


Broken

by Eternally_Exhausted



Series: Uncharted Territory [3]
Category: The LEGO Movie (2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-01-08 01:51:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 39,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21227816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternally_Exhausted/pseuds/Eternally_Exhausted
Summary: In the aftermath of the events of Halloween night, the team is left to try to pull themselves back together.Some are a little more successful at it than others.





	1. Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I really need to learn to stop posting my first drafts because I always, without fail, go back over them and think "I am not satisfied with this, it could be _so much better_." So Broken is getting a rewrite! I won't actually start with this project until December though as I plan on participating in Nanowrimo next month.
> 
> Hope y'all are ready for a lot more heartache this time around. C:

**Prologue: Aftermath**

After hogging the back booth for nearly three hours, the group finally, reluctantly, got up to leave. Touches had been exchanged frequently, reminding themselves and each other _yes I’m still alive, I’m still here_. Sirius lost count of how many hugs he’d received from Dick, or Benny, or Emmet, or Unikitty. Even Lucy had given him two, and Alastar never once left his side.

It made him feel weak, _pathetic_, that he needed the other nearby so badly, but the thought of Alastar leaving him alone sent his heart rate skyrocketing, the thought of _he’ll catch me he’ll kill me_ racing through his head, even _knowing_ they were safe now.

It made him feel even worse that he couldn’t look at sweet, innocent Keelan without flinching.

As they filed through the door, he caught Alastar’s sleeve, halting him in his tracks. “Sir?” Sirius felt his throat suddenly constrict; he couldn’t get the words out. His face must have shown something though, as the cop’s gaze softened. “I’ll stop by later,” he promised. “We want to get Keelan settled first.”

He relaxed slightly, and nodded. Right; they’d talked about that. Cary was moving in with Benny, and Keelan would be staying with their parents until he got himself sorted out again, and figured out what he wanted to do with himself. He let go of Alastar’s sleeve. “I’ll, uh. See you later then.” He could survive until then.

…Painkillers and a nap seemed like a pretty good plan in the meantime.


	2. Higher Than Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided I was going to do the Broken rewrite as my Nanowrimo project this year instead of the Undertale story I've been sitting on for like 4 years now 8D; (which is still getting written at some point, I just don't know when that will be) so here's chapter 1!

**Chapter One: Higher Than Hope**

“I don’t know how this is going to work,” Alastar said as they helped Keelan pack his few belongings. “We couldn’t stand to be more than a few feet apart in the _same hospital room_, how are we going to manage being in separate apartments? With Keelan being all the way at Mum and Dad’s?” Said brother flinched at that thought, gaze falling to the floor.

“I- I t-told you guys you didn’t- didn’t have to-”

“Yes we do,” Cary interrupted, quite matter-of-factly. “We survived Lord Business, we can survive this. It’ll just take some time to get used to it, is all.” He let out a soft ‘oof’ as Keelan hugged him tightly and gently rubbed his back, wincing slightly at the pressure against his bruises. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told you last night- if this is what it takes to make sure you can recover, we’ll do it.”

“Are you ready to go?” Alastar asked. Keelan chewed his lip as he took one final glance around, then nodded. “Alright, into the car. I’ll give Mum and Dad a call, explain the situation to them the best I can.”

Cary snorted. “Good luck with that.”

“Did I _say_ it was going to be an easy thing to do?”

Keelan smiled a bit at their bickering, and pressed himself close to Alastar’s side, relaxing slightly as his brother wrapped an arm around him. He grabbed his backpack and let himself be escorted to the elevator.

“Are you sure _you’re_ going to be okay, being so far away from us?” Keelan blinked and glanced back up at them, then nodded.

“I- I think so. You’re _here_.” He put a hand over his heart.

“Damn right we are,” Cary grumbled, even as Alastar smiled at him. They piled into the car shortly after that, Cary sliding into the driver’s seat and Alastar nudging Keelan to take shotgun before crawling into the back himself. He dug their phone out of his pocket (and they’d have to remember to get another one for the duration of their separation), bringing up their parents’ number and hitting ‘call’.

“Hi Mum! We’re, uh. We’re back in Bricksburg now, actually. That’s- yeah, that’s actually what I was calling you about. There was a bit of an incident last night, you might want to be sitting down for this…”

~* *~

The moment the Callaghan triplets started back to their apartment, Benny set out for Cape Space. Their three hours huddled in the back of The Coffee Chain weren’t spent merely making idle chatter- some important things had also been discussed.

Like some of the thoughts Keelan had managed to pluck from the Ringmaster’s head. Plans and plots Benny had thought long since dealt with, but now he wasn’t so sure. He needed to bring it to Director Kenning’s attention as soon as possible- he hadn’t spent twenty years in stasis and another five dealing with a form of forced amnesia just to let all his hard work fall apart _now_. If the Duplos were still a threat, their best source of protection from space-related threats needed to know as soon as possible.

His crew met him with their usual enthusiasm, but it was quick to die down when they realized just how serious he was. “Benny, what’s going on?” Jenny asked, clasping her hands together with worry.

“You remember a couple months back, when I had that really bad nightmare and B and I came looking for answers?”

A sigh. “Benny, how many times do we have to tell you-”

“_I remember what happened_.”

“Wh- …Benny, _nothing happened_. It was an accident, nothing more.”

“Does the name ‘Torrence Greene’ ring any bells?”

_Now_ they were paying attention. “It… does,” Penn agreed. “Vaguely, but it does. Who…”

“I dated him for a while. He was a fellow astronaut. Or so we thought. Turned out he was a plant, sent to study us and stir up dissent, to divide us so that when his people finally arrived, we wouldn’t be able to stand together and fight them off.”

“So the whole thing with the Master Builders…”

“He didn’t start it, but he definitely kicked the hornets’ nest. That was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Remember how Graison used to complain that someone was sneaking into the comms, but never had any proof?”

“I do actually kind of remember that,” Ken said. “There was actually someone there though, wasn’t there?”

Benny nodded. “It was ‘Torrence’. We caught him at it one time, and he… he wasn’t human. He ran off, we grabbed the Kragle and chased him-”

“Wait, _we_ had the Kragle??” Lenny’s jaw dropped.

“Yeah, I guess another team had found it in space, and brought it back to study it. Anyway, we used it on him, trapped him in his human disguise, but not before he did some serious damage to our ship. He got into our heads, buried our memories of him, and escaped.”

“And that’s when you discovered your Master Builder abilities,” Ken murmured, the memories starting to come back to him. “You helped us into stasis, then fixed the ship- not completely, she definitely burned up, but enough to get us all safely back.”

“Yeah,” Benny said. “But I don’t think it ended there. He was still alive, after all, and continued stirring up trouble until Cary shot him ten years ago.”

“And you think that’s why something might happen? Despite it being a decade ago?”

“No, I think something might happen because of what Keelan found out _last night_.”

“Wait, wait…” Penn said, starting to put things together. “Does this have anything to do with the realm that doesn’t actually exist?”

“It has _everything_ to do with it,” Benny confirmed.

“I think you need to back up and tell us the whole story,” Ken told him. Benny nodded and began with the invitation Sirius had received a week ago. They listened with horrified attention as he explained everything that had happened the night before.

“I think you’re right,” Lenny quietly spoke. “Director Kenning _does_ need to know. Even if it turns out to be nothing… At least we’ll be able to keep an eye out.”

~* *~

Lucy hadn’t let go of his hand since their group had split up to return home. Normally he would be thrilled to death at the show of affection, but after the events of the previous night… He couldn’t blame her for needing something to keep her grounded in reality.

And, well, maybe he needed something to help keep him awake on the walk home, even after all the caffeine he’d consumed. Thankfully their apartment wasn’t too far.

“How’s your face, babe?” she murmured, turning to look at him. She flinched every time her gaze fell on the row of stitches; the cut had swollen and turned a nasty purple color since they had first arrived at the hospital.

“I think I’m ready for some more painkillers,” Emmet admitted. “It’s starting to hurt again. Also I think I’m going to sleep for the next twenty four hours…” Lucy smiled and hugged his arm.

“Mind if I join you?” At Emmet’s surprised look, she bit her lip. “I really don’t want to be alone…”

“Okay,” he agreed. “I could use a cuddle buddy too.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, opting to take the elevator instead of the stairs for once. Lucy unlocked the door when, between his exhaustion and his affected vision, Emmet couldn’t quite seem to get the key in the lock. Without a word, Emmet went straight for the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Lucy took the time to walk back to her own bedroom and change out of her rumpled clothes into the most comfortable pair of pajamas she owned. Ten minutes later, she nudged open the door to Emmet’s bedroom to see the curtains drawn and her boyfriend already out like a light, snoring softly. Smiling softly to herself, she quietly closed the door behind her and silently padded across the room to slip under the covers and snuggle close to him.

She slipped a hand into one of his, bringing it close to press a kiss to his knuckles. “I love you, Emmet Brickowski,” she murmured softly, before finally closing her eyes and settling in to sleep.


	3. Beaten, Battered, and Abused

**Chapter Two: Beaten, Battered, and Abused**

Nora tightened her grip on Daniel’s arm as they watched the car pull into their driveway. “Oh, Pa,” she murmured. Even through the glare on the windshield she could see three distinct forms sitting inside. Finally it pulled to a stop, and her legs nearly gave out as she watched the three figures get out. Even with Alastar’s warning, it was an overwhelming sight to see.

“Why don’t you go sit down, dear. I’ll let the boys in.” She had half a mind to protest- she wanted to be there for them, when they finally came up to the door- but she wasn’t going to stay upright for much longer. So she nodded, and made her way to the living room, sinking into her arm chair. She wasn’t kept waiting for long.

Their sons greeted their father at the door, then piled into the living room to see their mother. Nora burst into tears at the sight of them. “Ohh, my boys,” she sobbed, reaching for them. “Look at you…”

“We’ll be okay, Mum,” Cary tried to soothe, taking one of her hands and squeezing gently. “This isn’t going to be like back in June. We’re not going anywhere this time.”

“But you’re _hurt_…”

“We still have our quick healing ability though,” Alastar assured. “We were worse off this morning. We’ll be right as rain again by the end of the week.”

“_Not my point_. I can’t understand why you keep associating with that man when he continues to fail to do right by you, I swear the next time I see him I’m going to wring his neck-”

“_Mum_,” Alastar interrupted with a sigh, “it’s not like he could have predicted what would happen-”

“No, but he should know darn well by now that you were boys were blessed with good instincts, he could have _listened!_”

“And he’s been beating _himself_ up about it all day. I know you’re scared and upset, we _all_ are right now, but he really is trying. And he _is_ doing better. So please, just keep being patient with him? And trust us to know what we’re doing?”

Nora glared at the three of them before finally giving in with a sigh. “Will you boys be staying the night?”

“I promised Ben I’d be back tonight-”

“Which means I have to go with him-”

“And I don’t think there’s enough space here for all three of us, now,” Cary finished, giving her a sardonic grin. Nora’s lips quirked up in response.

“Alright. But you will stay for supper, at least?”

“Of course, Mum. We wanted to help Keelan get settled in anyway.”

“Okay.” She wiped her eyes, and let Cary pull her back to her feet, smiling when the triplets all squeezed around her to hug her. “My sweet boys…”

“Everything will be okay,” Keelan murmured, and she pulled him down to kiss his forehead.

“My sweetest baby. Okay, you boys go, I’ll get started on supper.” Daniel reached for her hand as the triplets headed back to their old room, and they retreated into the kitchen together. Nora walked over to the counter, planting her hands on it firmly as she leaned on it for support.

“Ma…?”

“Pa, I don’t know if I have it in me to forgive that man a second time. Whatever they might say about any ‘improvements’ he’s made, he continues to make such _careless_ decisions about other people, and our boys always seems to get the worst of it…” He stepped up behind her and pressed a hand to her back, rubbing gentle circles.

“I know, dear. I understand, I _do_, and I’m not happy with this situation either. But the boys are also right, we do need to trust them. They, out of _anyone_ in the world, know him the best. They didn’t walk into that mess last night completely blind, or unprepared. And from the sounds of it, that Ringmaster fellow had it out especially for _them_, not President Business, so perhaps it wasn’t as avoidable as we would like to believe.” She sighed and leaned into him. “I want to believe our boys are completely innocent too, but we have to face the truth that they made some pretty awful decisions, themselves.”

“I know, Pa, but I’m just- I’m so _scared_ for them. What if- what if it turns out like-”

“Nora, dear, I _know_ you heard what Cary said earlier, and I know you know that boy is complete _shit_ at lying.”

“_Pa!_” she gasped, feigning scandal even as a grin tugged at her lips. Daniel grinned right back at her.

“So you can trust that we are not going to have a repeat of this summer. Everything _is_ going to be okay. And I’m not just saying this to get you to stop worrying, you’re their mother, it’s in the job description. I just feel it bears repeating until it actually sinks in. They aren’t little anymore Nora, and though it seems things keep going pear shaped for them this year, they _are_ more than capable of looking after themselves.”

“Hmph.” She sulked as he kissed her head. “Alright, fine. I won’t throttle him. But don’t expect me to play nice until he shapes up!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, dear.”

~* *~

_He’d done it. He’d actually done it! Finally, The Special and every last Master Builder in the world, either dead or captured and trapped in the Think Tank, along with the Traitor. He’d already taken care of one of them, now it was time to deal with the other._

_And to think he had accomplished all of this despite being unspecial. Despite being_ unlovable. _But he’d shown them. What_ Master Builder _could ever hope to achieve something so grand? He took his moment to gloat, and to leave his right hand man to die with the rest of them for the treason he had committed._

_Icy fingers reached into him, freezing him to the spot, forcing him to stay. Forcing him to_ watch_, as the computer continued to count down, leaving him to stare into every terrified, horrified face in that room. And The Special… The Special just looked _sad. _Sad because he had failed, sad because everyone he had tried to save was going to die and it was his fault, but mostly sad… for_ him. _Brown eyes bored into him._

I’m sorry you felt it had to come to this.

_And then the computer reached zero, zapping the life out of each and every person surrounding him. He felt his heart stop at the horrific sounds they made, mouths gaping and eyes wide as the electrical current passed through them, though he himself was somehow untouched by it all. The ice spread through his veins. He wanted to be sick. He wanted to_ scream.

_“Was this not your goal, Sirius? To annihilate the only people that might have a chance at restoring your lifeless ‘perfect’ world?”_

_The urge to throw up increased tenfold. Was it the voice of the Ringmaster? His father? Somehow, it was both at the same time._

_“Do you truly hate yourself so much that you would drag the rest of the world down with you in your attempt to end it all?”_

He sat up with a sob, eyes flying open to be greeted by his bedroom, dimly lit by the evening sun. He’d kicked his covers off in his thrashing; that might explain the cold feeling. He grabbed the comforter and pulled it around his shoulders as he sat shaking, taking in gasping breaths and squeezing his eyes shut tightly against the tears he could feel prickling. Where was Alastar? He’d promised he would come-

He jolted as the door clicked open, and turned to voice his disappointment at the cop’s lateness, only to be greeted by Edwin, his robot butler. “Sir?”

“Oh, buzz off,” he growled in response. “And don’t bother me until Good Cop gets here!” He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. The details of the dream were already fading from his mind, but left the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hoped this wasn’t going to be a recurring thing.

“Good-Cop-is-here-sir.”

“…Oh.” And he probably looked like a train wreck. “Tell him I‘ll be out in a couple minutes.”

“Yes-sir.” The robot left. Sirius drew in a few more shaky breaths, then pushed himself off the mattress to freshen up. Even around trusted friends, he couldn’t stand to be anything less than presentable.

…Best not to tell them about the chilling dream he’d just had, either.


	4. The Truth Unravels

**Chapter Three: The Truth Unravels**

Benny woke with a displeased grunt, feeling squished and trapped and far too warm. “What the hell,” he grumbled and peeled his eyes open, squirming until he managed to make some space for himself, and blinked several times as he tried to process what he was seeing. He had Cary pressed close to him on one side- which he’d been expecting- and Alastar on the other, which he _hadn’t_. He sagged as his heart ached. “Oh, guys,” he murmured. Considering their constant need to check that the other was still alive and close by the day before, he really should have expected that they wouldn’t be able to go a full night staying separated. And considering he never locked his door when he was home, of course Alastar would invite himself over.

Honestly, it was something of a miracle they hadn’t woken him during it all. It wasn’t as though he was _that_ deep of a sleeper.

His squirming seemed to wake the two brothers, who slowly rose to consciousness to stare at each other in embarrassed silence. “So, uh. Shall I go get some coffee going?” Benny offered, trying to keep the situation from getting too awkward.

“Sorry,” Alastar muttered, pushing himself up and sliding out of the bed that really wasn’t big enough to hold three full grown men (especially when two of them were the stature of the brothers). He paused when Benny’s hand carefully caught his elbow.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Benny assured. “_Both_ of you. We knew this was going to be rough at first. G, my door’s always open, you know that. Just. Maybe try not to squish me so much next time?” Alastar gave him an apologetic smile and leaned over, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“Coffee actually sounds really good right now,” Cary yawned, and stretched, wincing as the action tugged painfully on his injuries.

“I’ll go make it,” Alastar said, and retreated from the room. Benny tilted his head in consideration.

“Why don’t you get a shower while he’s occupied with doing that?”

“Alright,” Cary agreed, and shuffled into the bathroom. Benny put his hands on his hips, and sighed at the state of his bed. If this was something that was going to go on for much longer, he’d have to get a bigger one. He set about putting it back to rights, and was just tugging the comforter into place when he heard a grunt, and then a pained hiss. He paused, dropping the comforter to go knock on the bathroom door.

“B? You alright in there?”

“…I may need some help,” the cop admitted, and Benny felt his stomach twist at that. Damn the Ringmaster. Benny wished he could have done something far more satisfyingly violent to him.

“I’m coming in,” he announced, opening the door and slipping through, trying _not_ to think about how this would be the first time he got to see Cary naked. And dripping wet.

Shit.

_Benjamin James Blue, pull yourself together. This is not the time, he’s _hurting_._

He took a deep breath and let it out, calming himself before shucking off his boxers and stepping into the shower, stubbornly keeping his gaze up. “What can I do?”

“My back,” Cary grumbled, “I can’t…”

No, Benny supposed not, judging by the large black and purple bruises littered all over his torso. Honestly, it was a wonder he could move at all. He got up on the tips of his toes, kissing Cary’s jaw. “I got you, B.” He took the washcloth and carefully scrubbed the cop’s back, mindful of the cuts and scratches. Cary hummed softly as Benny worked, a sound of content, and Benny smiled to hear it. This was actually kind of nice. Intimate in its own way.

“Thanks,” Cary murmured once he was done.

“Not a problem,” Benny said, slipping back around him and floating up to kiss him softly. “We’re partners, right? That means I take care of you, too.” The fond look Cary gave him nearly made his heart melt. He frowned slightly as a thought occurred to him. “You know I’m probably going to have to do this for Alastar too, right?”

Cary sighed. “I suppose I can share your excellent back scrubbing skills, if I must,” he snarked, and Benny snorted out a laugh.

“With any luck, today’s the only time they’ll be needed,” Benny agreed.

“And what if I simply _want_ them?”

The spaceman gave him a sly grin. “I suppose we can work something out.” They both startled as Alastar knocked on the door.

“Coffee’s ready,” he announced.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Benny sighed, and reached to shut off the water. “Time to go face the world again.”

~* *~

Only a couple days passed before the citizens of Bricksburg began to press for information on what happened to Rookburn. The leaders of the other realms had already made their statements that they had arrived where the new realm was supposed to be located… only to find an empty stretch of Forest. Understandably, they hadn’t stuck around.

The crowd was silent when their President finally appeared before them, covered in scratches and bruises, and obviously uncomfortable from further injuries they were unable to see. What was perhaps even more shocking was that Good Cop and Bad Cop, who they had come to know over the past several months, were _separate_, and a little bruised and battered themselves. No one was able to see the shape the rest of the fellowship was in, as they stood near the front of the crowd.

Cary and Alastar stood at his sides as he approached the microphone to speak, silently protective and supportive. He was glad they somehow retained their Janus ability to heal quickly; the crowd would never know how bad those bruises were just several nights ago. Emmet gave him as bright a smile as he could manage and waved before giving him a double thumbs up. _You got this._

And so he explained, starting with where it all began twenty years before.

The crowd remained silent, listening as he recounted the events that led up to the attack on Halloween night. He faltered when he reached the part where Keelan had first attacked him, losing his voice for a few moments. Alastar stepped up to gently press a hand to his back, as the others pushed their way up onto the stage. Lucy leaned in close to whisper to him, words of encouragement the mic didn’t pick up, and he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was difficult to talk about, but he could do it.

The crowd was uncomfortably quiet as he finished his tale, letting it all sink in. It was a few minutes before anyone spoke, or even moved.

“Does this mean we’re going to have more like the Ringmaster to deal with?” someone called out. Sirius looked to Benny.

“You know a little more about that than I do.”

Benny nodded and moved closer to the mic. “Um. I doubt it, considering it’s been ten years since his death- twenty five since my crew and I trapped him in human form and he presumably last had access to the equipment needed to send any more messages to his kind- and we’ve yet to hear of any unusual activity going on out there. I’d say we’re safe from any alien invasions, but Cape Space is aware of the issue now, and keeping an eye out.” And he hadn’t left until Director Kenning agreed to doing at least that much.

They answered a few more questions before the Bricksburg citizens decided they had enough to mull over and the crowd dispersed. Sirius heaved a sigh and leaned back against Alastar, unable to hide his trembling any longer. “Well. I’m glad that’s over.”

“I thought you were very brave,” Emmet praised, giving him an encouraging smile. Sirius tried to smile back, but couldn’t quite manage it.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “It’s my fault we all landed in that mess. I should have listened.”

“Maybe,” Unikitty agreed, and nuzzled his cheek. “We certainly could have avoided a lot of heartache. But he also would have just found another way to plague us, so it’s good he was dealt with sooner rather than later. And we all survived.” She paused, canting her ears back. “Well… For the most part.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you,” Sirius grumbled. “Yes, if I had just taken a moment to think of anyone other than myself, Keelan wouldn’t be suffering like he is now! I am a terrible, selfish human being-”

“I was including you in that too, you dummy,” Unikitty gently chided, cutting him off. “He got into _your_ head too. Pretty badly, from what Good Cop and Bad Cop have said. You’ve _both_ lost a vital piece of yourselves.” Sirius gave her a skeptical look at that. “Maybe your missing piece isn’t as obvious as Keelan’s is right now,” she allowed, “but I can still _feel_ a hole inside you.”

“I’m _fine_,” the President insisted. “Or I will be, once these stitches come back out. I just need some sleep right now.” She frowned at him, but relented.

“Well, if you really think so. Just remember, you _aren’t alone_. You can call on any one of us if you need some help, alright?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”


	5. Dreamcatcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my laptop decided to reset while I was out for a bit and set my word count back by almost 200 but I can't find anything missing?? Very odd. Anyway, have another chapter.

**Chapter Four: Dreamcatcher**

It was a week after the press conference, and Sirius could feel he was running out of fumes. He had only caught sleep in snatches, a brief cat nap here and there, since their release from the hospital. He couldn’t afford to sleep too deeply after the first several nights.

The nightmares were relentless.

His evenings were spent alone with only his robot butler Edwin for company, but at least the Cops continued their daily lunch break visits. He received frequent texts from Emmet and Benny and Unikitty, but it just wasn’t the same thing as a real in-person visit. He could only guess they were all as exhausted as he was, and most likely for the same reason.

As it was, he could barely focus on getting his work done for the day, let alone multitask and pay attention to his surroundings. So when it finally registered that someone was standing at the other side of his desk and he glanced up to see a tall, broad shouldered frame wearing a black uniform, one hand reaching for him, he froze, then slumped over his desk.

Alastar made a sound of surprise when Sirius fainted, quickly moving around the desk to help him. “What did you do?!” Cary demanded, coming into the room behind him.

“Nothing!” Alastar yelped in response as he moved Sirius to lie down on the floor. “I didn’t even get a chance to say hi!” Cary was at his side in an instant, checking Sirius’ pulse and breathing as Alastar loosened his tie. After a moment, he glanced up at his brother.

“What do you think the odds are he thought you were Keelan?”

Alastar looked ready to dismiss the idea, then seemed to think better of it, closing his mouth. Cary turned his attention back to the President as he started to come to, just to avoid the look of utter devastation on his brother’s face.

Sirius groaned as he opened his eyes again to see the two Cops staring down at him with varying levels of concern. He frowned in confusion; what was he doing on the floor? “What…”

“You fainted,” Cary grunted.

The President frowned at them, obviously displeased with that explanation. “That’s ridiculous, I’ve never once fainted in my whole life.”

“Easy,” Alastar soothed as Sirius tried to sit up, sliding an arm under his back to help him.

“Would you _stop_, I’m not an invalid.”

“You’re not, but like it or not, you _did_ just pass out. You need to take it easy for a bit.”

“This is so _stupid_, I’m in perfectly good health-”

“Yes, you are. But for that moment, you thought Alastar was Keelan, didn’t you?”

Sirius’ protests died down at that. “…You mean that’s actually a thing?”

Alastar started giggling as Cary huffed his amusement. “Yes, that’s actually a thing,” Cary answered.

“And as exhausted as you look, that probably didn’t help matters any,” Alastar added. Sirius gave him a betrayed scowl.

“I’m _fine_.”

“Bullshit,” Cary spat. The President turned a look of outrage at his audacity onto him. “Glare at me all you want, _none_ of us got out of that unscathed. There’s no shame in being affected by it, so stop trying to pretend that you aren’t.” Cary’s gaze softened as Sirius’ expression turned guarded. “Look. A bit of friendly advice? Give Unikitty a call. Benny says she’s pretty good at keeping nightmares at bay.”

Sirius thought on that for a moment. “I guess Benny would know,” he finally allowed. “Alright. I’ll think about it.”

“Uh huh,” Cary said, not entirely convinced. “At any rate, it’s a good thing we brought take out.”

Sirius perked up at the mention of food. “Ooh. Did you bring me orange chicken?”

“And lots of duck sauce for your egg rolls,” Alastar snickered.

“Excellent!”

~* *~

Sirius could only stare dumbfounded as, around six o’clock that evening, Benny let himself into the new Octan Tower’s penthouse. “Whoa, nice place,” the astronaut complimented as he looked around.

“Benny. What are you doing in my home? Uninvited, at that.”

The spaceman gave him a cheeky grin. “I come bearing gifts,” he said by way of explanation, holding up a plastic shopping bag. It looked like it had several plastic containers in it.

“You… brought me _leftovers_.”

Benny rolled his eyes. “Not leftovers. Apparently Emmet cooks when he’s worried. I guess he made a lot cause he brought some for me and B and G, then shoved this at me when he heard I was heading your way. The Cops also took some with them to share with Kee’ and Ma and Pa. It’s still warm, if you’re hungry.”

Though he was far from famished, he would have to be out of his mind to turn down Emmet’s cooking, so Sirius said, “I could eat.”

“Great!” Benny set the bag down on the island, then took a look around. “So uh… Where do you keep your plates and stuff?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Sit down, Benny, I’ll get it.” He pulled out plates and silverware, and even got Benny a glass of water. “This doesn’t really answer my question, though.” Benny waved him off as he downed his water, and Sirius resigned himself to not getting a proper answer. Privately, he guessed that Bad Cop had asked Benny to come keep an eye on him for the evening, after what had happened earlier that afternoon.

When they were finished, and Benny had cleared away the dishes and put the leftovers in the fridge, they fell together on the couch to watch some tv, as had been their routine while Sirius had been occupying Benny’s spare room. It came as no surprise when the spaceman flicked through the guide and homed in on How It’s Made. He didn’t even bat a lash as Benny leaned against him, welcoming the contact he hadn’t realized he had missed so much. They sat in silence for several minutes, before finally, “Cary and Alastar have been going to visit Keelan every evening since. Which is kind of a bummer for me, but I _get_ it.” And there was the explanation. Not too surprising, for someone as extraverted as Benny. “I think it’s the only time _any_ of them gets any actual, restful sleep.”

Sirius puzzled that one over for a moment. The Cops hadn’t _looked_ any different, when he saw them for lunch… Then again, he probably wasn’t in any state to really take notice, at the time. “What do you mean?”

“They’re not… handling the separation so well. Sure, they’re _physically_ stable, but psychologically… I’ve been hearing stories from the station. One of them leaves to go do something, get a folder from a file cabinet or whatever, and it’s maybe five minutes at most before one or even both of them is sprinting down the halls looking for the other. B and I go to bed, and I wake up smushed between him and G. Which would be kind of cute and funny, if not for the reason _why_. And Keelan wakes _them_ frequently with his nightmares. They’re only okay when they’re all together.”

Benny had been very careful not to call him ‘Scribbles’ anymore, Sirius noted.

“So you decided to drop by because you have nothing better to do.”

“Nah.” Benny scooted away and shuffled lengthwise on the couch, then let himself fall back so his head was in Sirius’ lap, his legs dangling over the arm. Sirius raised his eyebrows at him. “I could’ve gone to hang out with Emmet and Lucy, or Unikitty, instead. I just figured you could use some company too.”

“Alright, then you came because Cary and Alastar told you what happened and you think I need babysitting.”

“Now you’re just being obstinate.” Benny reached up to tug at a curl. “Maybe I missed my roomie. I love B dearly, but _nobody_ can tear apart an episode of Mystery Science Theater with me like you do.” Sirius laughed at that, and Benny grinned in triumph. “What do you say, wanna see if it’s on?”

“…Edwin! Popcorn!”

“_Please_,” Benny chided.

“Please,” Sirius added, pouting at him.

“Yes-sir.” Benny sat up again, snuggling back against his side.

“…So, uh. I’ll admit, I haven’t thought to ask. The nightmares, are they…”

“Actually?” Benny glanced up at him. “They went away.”

Sirius gave him a surprised look. “Really?”

Benny nodded. “I think what was really plaguing me was _not knowing_. Once I finally remembered everything, it was like my brain went ‘ah, okay’ and finally let it go. Kinda weird, I know. But in light of what everyone else is going through, I’m sure not about to complain. I’m doing enough worrying about the rest of you as it is. How are _you_ holding up?”

“Oh, I’m- I’m fine-”

“Sir-has-nightmares,” Edwin offered.

“_Traitor_.”

“Uh huh,” Benny said, giving him a flat look.

“Stop _looking_ at me like that… I got enough of the ‘disappointed glower’ from your boyfriend earlier.”

“Your-popcorn-sir.” Edwin placed the bowl on the coffee table in front of them.

“Thanks, Eddie. Look, I know you probably heard this from B earlier, but it doesn’t seem like it sank in so I’m gonna say it again. You went through some pretty serious _shit_, Busy. There’s no shame in being affected by it.”

“I didn’t have this sort of problem when Airheart shot me…”

“_Pffft_. Airheart was just a petulant brat throwing a tantrum. Plus, you _did_ kinda shoot first. The Ringmaster did everything he could to make you _suffer_.” Sirius shifted uncomfortably, looking away, and Benny relented. “Alright, I’ll shut up now. Let’s see what episode’s on.”

They did manage to find it, though it was already about half an hour into the episode. It wasn’t enough to deter them, though, and they settled right into it, hurling enthusiastic insults and popcorn at the screen. Benny wasn’t surprised as Sirius became more quiet as the movie went on, eventually starting to snore softly. Seemed the Cops had been right about his lack of sleep lately. The spaceman smirked to himself, shaking his head. “You stubborn dope,” he murmured fondly, and reached for the remote to turn the volume down. He waved Edwin off as the butler moved to take his creator to bed. “Nah, leave him be,” Benny said quietly. “I’ll just stay here for a while, it’s alright.”

And maybe get some sleep for himself, uninterrupted by others’ night terrors.


	6. Personal Jesus

**Chapter Five: Personal Jesus**

Lucy didn’t know if she would have survived her second encounter with the Ringmaster, and the subsequent resurfacing of her suppressed memories, without Emmet’s steadfast support. He never once pressured her to talk about it, simply opening his arms to her and holding her until she calmed down, trusting that she would speak when she was ready. When the nightmares woke her, it was enough just to lie beside him and slowly rake her fingers through his hair as he continued to snore softly. She knew he preferred her to wake him when this happened- he had made such a request several times now- but she wanted at least one of them to have some peace of mind at night.

And Emmet was having bad dreams of his own, she had discovered one night upon her own panicked awakening. About their friends getting hurt, judging from the way he would sometimes call their names, but most often it was her own she heard. It took little effort to soothe him and calm him back down, and he had yet to wake from it, a fact for which Lucy was glad.

At the moment they were seated on the couch, watching some of Emmet’s favorite cartoons and eating leftovers from his cooking frenzy the day before (which she had been both amused and concerned to learn was in response to being told about Sirius’ fainting episode). “Are you okay, Lucy?” the Special asked, and she had to stop herself from jumping in surprise. Of course he would notice her introspective mood.

She gave him a reassuring smile. “Just thinking how grateful I am to have you,” she answered honestly, taking delight in the blush and the bright grin that graced Emmet’s face at her words. He leaned over to peck her cheek and wound an arm around her as she snuggled closer. It was finally actually getting cold in Bricksburg, and as Emmet tended to run on the warm side, he hadn’t quite gotten around to turning up the heat yet. Not that she would complain- it gave her more reason to cuddle with him.

“I’ve been thinking too,” Emmet said after a moment. Lucy glanced up at him. “This is going to be the first proper Thanksgiving I’ve had since I moved out on my own. Um. Well, not that I would really call all my Thanksgivings before that ‘proper’ either,” he admitted. Lucy slipped her hand into his, giving it a gentle squeeze. “But I was thinking! Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get together for the holiday?”

“I do like the idea, babe,” Lucy said.

“…There’s about to be a ‘but’, isn’t there?”

She gave him a weak smile at that. “But… I don’t think our apartment is really big enough for everybody to meet here. And I’ve been hearing through the grapevine that Ma and Pa aren’t really ready to forgive Sirius _again_ yet, so I think it’s safe to say their place is out, too. And even if we got someone else to host it, we would probably have to pick sides. Either Sirius doesn’t come, or Ma and Pa don’t,” she sighed. “And I really don’t want to have to do that any more than you do.”

Emmet wilted. “Oh…”

“I’m sure everyone will appreciate the idea, Emmet, it’s just not feasible this year.”

“Okay…”

“We can bring it up at our next coffee date, and hash out the details then, okay? I’m sure we can figure something out so nobody has to be alone, we just won’t have it as one big group this time.” He nodded, perking up a little again at the thought. “I’m going to go make some cocoa, would you like any?”

“Oh yes please! With lots of whipped cream?”

Lucy smiled, leaning over to gently kiss his lips. “You got it, babe.” She couldn’t help but grin at his giddy little giggle as she made her way into the kitchen.

~* *~

“Miss Lucy?”

Lucy glanced up from the pile of ideas she was going through for their next group project (though she was _this close_ to giving in to Benny’s persistent pouting and letting him teach them how to build a spaceship). The Master Building class had doubled in size since the original sign-ups that summer- not that that was saying much, considering there was originally only three students. “What is it, Jamie?”

“Mister Benny fell asleep.”

Well. That _was_ cause for concern. She followed the girl over to where her co-mentor sat dozing, and gently kicked his sneaker. “Hey, space case. Wake up.” Benny jolted awake and sat up with a wide yawn, rubbing at his eyes.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “It kind of snuck up on me.”

“I thought you said the nightmares stopped?”

“_Mine_ did,” he agreed. “Keelan’s still having major issues though, and it keeps waking his brothers. And me, in turn. Do you have any idea how much work it is to get _all three_ of them to calm back down?”

“Oh.” Lucy bit her lip, rubbing at her arm. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Benny tilted his head as he considered that. “You know what? I’ll ask, there might be. I’m sure Cary and Alastar will have some ideas.” He stretched, grunting softly in satisfaction as his spine popped. “So is The Special joining us for his lunch break today?”

“Oh, no, he said he had something he needed to do today, though he wouldn’t tell me what…”

~* *~

He glanced up as he heard voices; someone out there was asking for him. Which was a surprise, because he had been sitting in jail for just over two weeks without any company but the cops that worked there. He was even more surprised when that someone turned out to be The Special- he _really_ hadn’t been expecting that. The tender looking cut around his eye gave a clue as to why he hadn’t come any sooner. Still, he couldn’t help feeling petulant. “Finally decided to press charges?” he sulked. Such had always been his luck.

“Nah,” Emmet said, pulling up a plastic chair on the other side of the bars and sitting in it. “As far as crazy things that have happened to us goes, your scheme was really tame. All we really suffered was a bit of embarrassment, and that’s nothing new.” The young man offered him a friendly smile, as much as he could manage while that cut was still healing. “I just came to talk.”

That piqued his interest. “About what?”

“You said you’re Sirius’ brother, and the resemblance is pretty obvious, but he’s never mentioned _you_. In fact, I don’t think he even knows he _has_ a brother. What’s up with that?”

He tilted his head. “You called him by his first name. You know him well?”

“We’re friends,” Emmet agreed.

“He ever tell you about our parents?”

“Not really,” The Special sighed. “He avoids that topic as much as possible. All we’ve ever been able to get out of him is that they’re dead.”

“Can’t say I blame him,” he mumbled. “They really weren’t good people. Our father kicked me out and disowned me when I was seventeen, and _then_ filed a restraining order against me so I’d never be able to get close to Sirius again and be a ‘terrible influence’ on him.” Emmet looked appropriately shocked. “Sirius was two years old at the time. He couldn’t possibly have remembered me, and what you said just confirms that Arthur and Maggie never once mentioned my existence to him.”

“…_Wow_. Sirius at least calls them Mother and Father…”

“I don’t have much reason to be that charitable,” he grumbled. “And yet we _still_ both turned out to be just like him anyway…”

“You’re _not_ bad people,” Emmet protested. “Maybe a little misguided, but not _bad_. I mean, I knew Sirius was actually a great guy from the start! He just needed someone to show him that, and I think it’s the same with you.”

“You’re very optimistic.”

“Lucy prefers ‘oblivious’, but I’ll take that.” Emmet grinned, and he let out a startled laugh.

“You know, I never expected I’d ever had a civil conversation with any of you ever again.”

“I am the master of civility.”

He started giggling again. “You’re very funny, Emmet.”

“How badly do you want to get out of here?”

He stopped laughing at that, giving the young man a surprised look. “What?”

“You seem to care about Sirius.”

“I’ll admit, I don’t really know what to make of him. I loved my baby brother, but I haven’t _known_ him in forty years. I’ve only had the media to give me a glimpse of the person he’s become, and there’s only so much faith you can put in _that_.” He picked at his sleeve, biting his lip. “I would very much like to meet him, though.”

Emmet grinned. “Great! And I have the _best_ idea.”


	7. Breathe

**Chapter Six: Breathe**

He twisted this way and that, wincing as he tried to get a better look at the laceration stretching across his back. It looked much better, especially now that the dark threads holding it closed had been removed. He gingerly prodded at it, hissing softly through his teeth.

“Sir-you’ll-open-it-again-doing-that,” Edwin admonished from where he stood in the door, passively watching his creator practicing contortionism.

“Oh shush, I’m just having a look,” Sirius grumped back, then sighed. He’d been pretty well shredded; none of it was going to heal without some impressive scarring. One more thing to add to his already extensive list of flaws.

It was little wonder he could barely stand to look at himself in the mirror anymore.

He sighed and pulled on a tee shirt, buttoning up one of his white dress shirts over it, then eyed his concealer as he debated. The Cops and Benny were already onto him, but… “To heck with it,” he muttered and swiped some over the darkening bags under his eyes, making sure it was blended perfectly before finally leaving the bathroom. Maybe word had already spread through their little group that he was having some trouble sleeping, but it wouldn’t do for that to be _obvious_, there would be no end to the fussing.

Red tie.

Gray jacket.

He was as ready to face the day as he would get.

~* *~

Cary shifted in his seat for what must have been the hundredth time that morning. He’d been feeling restless since he had woken up, and it had only gotten worse as the day wore on.

Alastar was across the desk from him- they had gotten a bigger one to better suit their needs, since the split, courtesy of President Business- chewing on the end of a pen as he tried to focus on his own work. He glanced up at his brother. “Cary. How much coffee have you had today?” He didn’t look as though he was in a teasing mood.

“No more than usual,” he grunted in response. A spike of something unpleasant stabbed through him. Alastar sucked in a sharp breath, hand flying across the desk to grab Cary’s arm.

“I think-” He squeezed his eyes shut, shivering. Cary swore under his breath and shoved himself out of his seat, rounding the desk to kneel next to Alastar. His brother somehow never lost his grip as he moved. He forced himself to keep breathing as the panic fluttered through him too.

“Come on, Alastar, _breathe_. Don’t let him drag you under. We can’t help him calm down if _we_ can’t calm down, right?” Alastar drew in a shaky breath and nodded.

“He must- have it bad if it’s affecting _us_ like this-”

“Stop talking already,” Cary huffed at him. Alastar let out a breathless laugh and leaned against him, closing his eyes as he drew in a deeper breath. Slowly, Alastar’s trembling ceased, and the aching tension in Cary’s own chest began to subside. Alastar relaxed further as a wave of reassurance flooded their bond.

“And people call _me_ a mother hen,” he chuckled, glancing up at his brother.

“Only when it’s you two,” Cary grumbled in response. “We should give them a call, try to figure out what happened to set him off.” Alastar had their cell phone out before he even finished speaking, dialing their parents’ home number. Their father answered the phone.

“Is everything alright there?” Alastar asked.

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“Keelan, is he-”

“Oh! No, he and Ma left to get groceries, but they should be home soon.”

Cary and Alastar shared a stunned look. “Mum actually got him out of the house??”

“That explains a lot,” Cary sighed.

“Why? What’s goin’ on?”

“We think Keelan might have just had a panic attack.”

“Oh- oh, _boys_, are you alright-”

“We’re fine, Dad,” Alastar assured. “And we managed to get Kee’ calmed down, too. At least we think so, we can’t feel it anymore, at any rate. That’s part of why we were calling.”

“If you say so,” Pa said, sounding unsure. “Shall I have him give you a call when they get home?”

“_Please_,” both cops answered. Pa chuckled softly at that.

“Alright, I’ll give him your message when they get back. And we’ll see you tonight.”

“See you,” Alastar promised, and hung up. “You know I’m thinking we should get Kee a phone as well, in case something like this happens again.”

“Mm,” was Cary’s answer as he nodded in agreement. “I’m still surprised he actually went out with Mum, being out in public always made him nervous even _before_.”

“Ah, well, you know Mum, she can be quite convincing.”

“Heh! There’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.”

“At least she was with him. Hopefully they’ll be home before too much longer.”

~* *~

Benny wound up going with them to supper at their parents’ place that night. The first thing he did, when he walked through the door, was to give Keelan a hug. “Hey there, kiddo,” he greeted, and received a small smile in response. “How are you holding up?”

“Uh, b-better, now,” Keelan said. “Cary and Alastar helped a-a lot.”

“Yeah, they told me about it.”

“Everybody was st-staring at me…”

Benny sighed, looping an arm around Keelan’s and gently tugging him toward the couch to sit down. “Yeah, you’ll have that. Metalbeard got a _lot_ of stares at first too, you know? But eventually everybody got used to his robot body and it stopped being such a big deal. You just need to be patient, people will eventually get used to you too, and they’ll come to realize that you being an absolute sweetheart is the most important thing about you, rather than your face.” Keelan blushed at his words.

“Mum said that too, but… But they l-looked at me, and, and- I-I could- I could _see_ the disgust, and- it- it was Halloween all over ag-again, the- the Master Builders, they called me a _f-f-freak_ and a m-mm…. mons-” He hiccupped as slim arms wrapped around him, hugging him as tightly as Benny dared. Cary crouched down in front of him, reaching to wipe away ink stained tears.

“Keelan, I’m going to tell you something, and you darn well better pay attention because I’m only going to say this once. _You are not a monster_. If any of us here is the monster, it’s me.”

“Cary,” Alastar sighed.

“Just looking a little different isn’t what makes someone a monster. You have to _hurt_ people.”

“But- b-but I _did_-”

“What your body did while you were under his possession doesn’t count. _You_ didn’t make that choice to hurt anyone, and I know you fought him the best you could.”

“…You’re not a monster,” Keelan muttered stubbornly. “You’re scary some-sometimes, but not a m-_monster_.”

“Kind of wishing we weren’t separated right now just so I could prove you wrong.”

“_Cary_,” Alastar said again, more insistently this time. Cary finally turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. “Stop arguing with him, you know he’s right.”

“Yeah, don’t listen to the grump, Kee’, he’s totally a pussycat,” Benny added, grinning. The look he gave Cary promised they would be having a talk about it later, when they were home and well out of hearing range of their youngest brother. Keelan glanced between the three of them.

“I’m not… _c-completely_ ignorant of what happened,” he admitted, earning himself three surprised looks. “I know you all kept it from me to- t-to protect me, but- the- the Ringmaster, he…” Keelan drew in a shuddering breath. “He sh-showed me, what you did. What you- _b-both_ did. To… to the Master Builders. He- he t-tried to make me think that- that I was, um, j-just as bad, cause, cause we…”

“Because we’re brothers?” Alastar guessed. “Because we shared a body?” Keelan nodded.

“B-but I knew better. You guys… _did_ do some p-pretty bad things, back then…” He looked at Cary. “You especially. But. But I know who you are _now_, so- so it doesn’t matter. You’re not a-a monster, either. You’re grumpy, and- and you’ve got a bad temper s-sometimes, b-but I know it’s cause you worry, and- and s-sometimes cause you’re scared-”

“_Scared??_” Cary interrupted, raising his eyebrows. Alastar started laughing, and Benny let out a little snort that said he was trying not to join in.

“_My point is_,” Keelan pressed on, starting to grin, “deep down, you’re really nice, a-and a silly overprotective d-dork.”

Benny threw his head back and cackled. “He’s got you there, B!” Cary huffed at them.

“I disown the lot of you.”

“In this house, that’s against the law,” Ma’s voice smoothly interrupted. “Now why don’t you all come sit down? Supper’s ready.”

“Yes! Food!” Benny cheered, leaping up and zipping into the dining room, Alastar close behind him. Keelan looked back at Cary, then leaned forward to wrap his arms around him.

“I mean it,” he murmured. “You’re not a monster, either.”

Cary sighed, returning the embrace and pressing a kiss to his temple. “You’re going to be the death of me.”


	8. Heart

**Chapter Seven: Heart**

Though his physical hurts had healed, even after three weeks something inside him still ached. Still felt _lacking_. He wondered if it was that hole Unikitty had mentioned, but for the life of him he still couldn’t tell what was missing. If he could just figure that out, maybe he could fix it, _fill_ it… He had asked her about it, once, and she could only shake her head sadly at him.

“I can’t tell that either,” she told him. “I can’t see what all your different parts are made of, so I can’t see what’s missing. It’s just like… a silhouette, dark and solid, but light’s shining through where that piece is missing. I wish I _could_ help you figure it out, I really do.”

“It could also be that nothing’s actually _missing_,” Benny added, during a later conversation, another night watching their favorite show together. The spaceman’s expression had turned dark after that. “Torrence was great at getting into people’s heads. You experienced that yourself. Not only could he block memories, he could plant fake ones into others’ minds, it’s how he convinced me and my crew that he was just another astronaut. So he probably scrambled things about and left a gap when he was messing with you.”

“So the nightmares, the… the guilt, he- he _put_ that in my head?”

“Uh. I don’t think so-”

“So then- hey, Lucy can do that mindspace thing, right?”

“Busy-”

“She can help me fix it and then everything will be fine again-”

“_Sirius!_” Benny snapped, finally gaining his attention again. Sirius turned to him, eyes wide in surprise at Benny’s outburst. “It’s _not going to help_.”

“But you said-”

“That he could plant _memories_, not _feelings_. Even if Lucy _was_ in any frame of mind to help you that way, it wouldn’t work. I’m afraid this is all on you, buddy. You’ve got to sort yourself out just like the rest of us.” Benny shifted uncomfortably at the angry, devastated look Sirius gave him before sagging, letting his head fall against the astronaut’s shoulder. “I know, man, it sucks big time,” he soothed.

“I don’t know how to do this.”

“That’s what therapists are for,” Benny quipped, only half teasing.

“_Ugh_. Pouring my heart and soul out to a perfect stranger? _Pass_.”

Benny snickered. “Well I think they like to establish _some_ trust before they expect you to dump all your deep dark secrets on them. But _I’m_ always willing to listen, and I’ll bet you anything Alastar and Emmet and probably even Unikitty would too, if you would just _talk to us_. Sometimes just getting shit off your chest is a huge help.”

“Language,” Sirius scolded, pointing a finger into Benny’s face. The spaceman only gave him an unrepentant grin in return. “You are incorrigible.”

“In all seriousness though,” Benny said as his grin fell away. “I mean it, I’m always willing to lend an open ear if you need it. You’re my friend and I _really worry_ about you sometimes.” Sirius remained silent, staring at the television screen as Benny sighed and gave up for the night.

Lucy had been right about Emmet’s Thanksgiving idea. Though their friends did like the thought, they all agreed it just wouldn’t work out that year. So instead Sirius found himself invited to Emmet and Lucy’s apartment, along with Unikitty, where the four of them held their own little celebration. It was a somewhat subdued affair, but Emmet’s cooking was as delicious as ever- and really, it was far better than any Thanksgivings he could remember with his parents. Conversation was easy and comfortable, and Unikitty had them laughing as she told stories of some of the antics she and her younger brother got up to as children. After lunch they piled onto the double decker couch to watch some classics, during which Sirius and Unikitty had both dozed off together. He blamed it on eating too much turkey. Lucy blamed it on him just getting _old_.

They were content enough to leave it at that.

Christmas preparations began immediately after that. His friends didn’t really notice his lack of participation in their conversations, as they excitedly chattered about friends and family they would go visit, what decorations they would put up, parties and other events they would attend. He was happy enough that everyone else seemed to finally be on the road to recovery, even if he was still lingering far behind.

At least Alastar waited until it was actually December before he asked Sirius if he planned on doing anything.

The President was stumped by the question. He had spent so long not celebrating the winter holiday, that he hadn’t even given it a single thought. But there was certainly no reason he couldn’t _now_. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it, I suppose, it just… never crossed my mind.”

“That’s good. Because Emmet’s planning on throwing a party and he’s got his heart set on having _all_ of us there.”

Sirius made a sound of amusement, giving Alastar a small smile. “Of course he does.”

Alastar grinned. “It also gives me an excuse to actually get you a present this year.”

“…I’m not sure I like that look.”

The cop adopted a wide eyed look of innocence. “Is this better?”

“_No!_” Sirius yelped. “I know that means you’re up to something and I _hate_ it!” Alastar laughed.

~* *~

It wasn’t even a week after that conversation that Sirius got quite a surprise. He froze when the elevator door opened to reveal his penthouse already occupied. Alastar, Unikitty, and Dick stared back at him, loaded down with strands upon strands of white lights. He worked his jaw, trying to get words out.

“…_What_.”

“I think we broke him,” Unikitty giggled.

“How did you all get in here without Velma notifying me?” He pointedly eyeballed the cop, but only got the patented wide eyed look of innocence in return. He _knew_ Alastar had been plotting something. “And _what_ are you doing?”

“Decorating!” Dick chirped. “Uncle Alastar said you don’t normally have decorations up for Christmas, so we thought we’d help out!”

“I brought some of my extras from home!” Unikitty added. “And a tree! You know, to cheer the place up!” Sirius didn’t say a word, simply turned to take in the eight foot tall pine they had somehow managed to wrestle into his living room. It was still bare. Unikitty held her breath, ears canting back slightly when she couldn’t read his expression. Even Alastar looked somewhat apprehensive. “Do you… not like it…? I mean I tried not to go _too_ crazy, I know you sometimes get overwhelmed when things get too chaotic so I just stuck with the white colors-”

“I haven’t celebrated Christmas since I was six years old,” he finally said.

Dick gasped, practically scandalized. “What?! Why not??”

“My father didn’t believe in Christmas.”

Unikitty winced. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize it was against your religion- Alastar didn’t think so anyway-”

Sirius cut her off with a snort. “_Religion_ had nothing to do with it. Arthur Business just didn’t believe in making merry and giving gifts, especially not ‘just because’. Birthdays weren’t really a thing either.”

“Why didn’t you celebrate it after, though?” she pressed. He simply gave her a look.

“Why do you think?”

She giggled nervously. “Right… You kind of had that whole ‘evil overlord’ thing going on…”

“And for the ten years in between, I had no other family, or even any friends, to give me reason to get into the whole ‘holiday spirit’.”

“But you’re not a bad guy anymore, now! And you’ve got all of us to celebrate with!” Dick protested. Unikitty nodded emphatically.

Sirius felt his heart melt a little at that, and turned a mock scowl to Alastar. “I think I see why you recruited these two in particular for your little scheme,” he grumbled. Alastar smiled innocently back at him. “Give me some of those lights. If you guys are going to make a disaster of my place, I may as well help.”

Though he was certain Alastar wouldn’t have let the other two get too carried away anyway, he felt better for having been around to direct their efforts. And Unikitty really had reined herself in pretty well- nothing really matched in size or shape, but she had managed to stick with one color scheme, at least. And the end result really was quite tasteful. It made his place feel a little more like a _home_ and not just the place he crashed for the night. Alastar seemed to notice how he had relaxed, and stuck around after Unikitty left to take Dick home, having promised to return the boy at a reasonable hour.

“Thank you,” he murmured softly, unable to tear his gaze away from the tree just yet. “It really does look nice.” He jolted in realization. “Oh! Cary’s not here!”

“Yeah,” Alastar said. “We’ve been working on that. We’re getting better, but we’re about at our limit now. …You really do like it?”

“I do. It’s… It brings back good memories. Smells kind of nice, too.” Alastar chuckled and pulled him into a hug.

“I’m glad. You have a good night, Sir.”

Sirius leaned into the hug for the brief time it lasted. “Yeah… You too.”

He thought he actually might, for once.


	9. Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)

**Chapter Eight: Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)**

Keelan stared uncomprehending as his messenger popped up with a little blip that he had an incoming video call. He didn’t normally get those so early in the day, but he couldn’t feel any distress from his brothers... “Oh!” he gasped as it finally sank in who was calling, and he perked up as he hit ‘answer’. He laughed when Unikitty’s manic grin filled the screen.

“HIIIIIIIIII!” squealed the princess.

“Hi!” he laughed back at her.

“We haven’t chatted for a while! How are you doing??”

“Oh, uh, a-a little better. Not much…”

Unikitty’s expression turned sympathetic. “A little Bluebird told me you’re still having bad dreams,” she said. Keelan nodded in confirmation, chewing on his lip. “You know what I find to be a pretty good remedy for those?”

“W-what’s that?”

“A cuddle buddy!” Keelan started laughing in earnest as she placed a pair of teddy bears into view of the camera, each sporting a familiar pair of glasses. The one with the sunglasses even had a grumpy frown stitched onto its plush face. “Or two, in this case,” she finished with a smirk.

“Oh, g-goodness,” he wheezed, clutching at his sides. “Did- did you make those? For, uh, f-for me?”

“I did!”

“Oh, goodness,” he said again, giggling helplessly. “I _love_ them.”

“Awesome!” Unikitty chirped. “I’m planning on crashing class today so I’ll give them to Benny! And then he can give them to your brothers to give to you!”

“Oh! You- y-you g- Kitty, you g-gotta-” He stopped, and took a moment to huff at himself before continuing. Unikitty waited patiently. “You g-gotta tell Benny to- to get a picture when he shows them. E-especially of Cary, he’ll-” He snorted, laughing again. “He’ll be _so flustered_.”

She gave him the most devious grin she could manage. “Will do!”

~* *~

Edwin was surprised, when he came out of sleep mode in the morning, to find his creator slash boss passed out on the couch instead of his bed. There was a glass sitting on the coffee table that he was quite certain hadn’t been there when he went into sleep mode the night before, and Sir’s laptop was open. A poke to the touch pad revealed a search for remedies for sleeplessness. There hadn’t been any sounds of distress to disturb him during the night, so… Still a bad night, he guessed, but not as bad as they had been.

The robot glanced around the living room, taking in the decorations. Officer Callaghan had politely requested that he stay out of the way while they were getting them put up. Half the lights had been left on overnight, leaving the living room lit by a warm, dim glow. He wondered if that was why Sir had remained out here, and if perhaps that was why… _whatever_ was upsetting him so badly lately hadn’t affected him as much. At least for one night.

Sir started to stir, and Edwin left to get started on coffee and breakfast. Sir was always less cranky when he had caffeine first thing in the morning. A couple minutes later he heard one of the bar stools slide across the tiled floor, and then a groan as Sir eased himself into it. “Your-coffee-will-be-ready-in-just-a-moment-sir.”

Sirius frowned as he caught his reflection in the microwave door; his hair was a disaster, sticking up every which way. What he got for crashing on the couch, he supposed, even if he did sleep a little better for it. He turned his scowl onto Edwin when the robot spoke; the flat lack of intonation was especially grating that morning, for some reason. Breakfast and a shower came first, of course, but. “Yeah I know what we’re doing today,” he grumbled. “Edwin, after you’re done cleaning up here I want you to go to Repairs, you’re getting an upgrade.”

“Yes-sir.”

~* *~

“Good morning, beautiful,” Emmet hummed at her as she opened her eyes, giving her a radiant smile.

“Emmeeeetttt,” Lucy groaned, even as she fought down a blush. “No flattery before coffee, you know that.” His smile grew brighter, if it was even possible.

“Already made and waiting.”

She blinked at that. “And you didn’t wake me?”

“You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to disturb you…” She noticed, then, that he was laying on top of the covers rather than underneath them. And she could indeed smell coffee. “I’m taking it you slept well last night?”

“I did,” Lucy murmured after a moment, realizing she hadn’t woken during the night, for once.

“That’s great!” Emmet chirped. “Cause, um. I kind of have a Plan, and I really need you on board for it…”

“Emmet. What did you do.”

“Coffee first!” he sang out, shoving himself upright again. Lucy sighed and followed him, grabbing her robe on the way and pulling it on to ward off the chill air. Emmet didn’t even break his stride as he tapped the thermostat up a couple degrees, and she could feel a familiar warmth blossoming in her chest at his thoughtfulness. He motioned for her to sit down before turning to grab a pair of mugs, pouring her coffee first and sliding it over to her. She shook her head as she watched him dump spoonful after spoonful of sugar into his.

“Alright. I’ve got my coffee. What are you up to?” she pressed.

“So, uh. You remember back in October, when we met Risky?” Lucy stared at him as she sipped her coffee, expression unreadable. “I, um… I went to talk to him.”

“…_Emmet_,” Lucy sighed. “You bailed him out, didn’t you?”

“Mmmmmmmaybe?” he hedged. She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Alright, I did,” he pouted at her. “But he’s really not all that bad!”

“You thought the same thing about Lord Business.”

“And I was _right_ about him in the end, wasn’t I?”

“Smug brat,” Lucy huffed, a smile creeping across her lips. Emmet grinned back at her. “Alright, I’ll bite. What’s this Plan of yours?”

“I think we should reintroduce Risky and Sirius.”

Lucy nearly choked on her coffee, and grimaced as the very large gulp she’d taken burned its way down. “Ugh, _ow_,” she complained, pressing a hand to her chest. “Emmet, are you _sure_ that’s a good idea?”

“It is,” he answered with unwavering confidence. Lucy knew there would be no convincing him otherwise. “Risky really seems to care about Sirius, and Sirius needs to _know_ he’s still got family that actually gives a darn about him.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows at Emmet’s unusually ‘strong’ language. “Babe, I think you might be projecting, just a little bit.” Emmet wilted. “But, I also think you might be right. If Risky really _does_ care about Sirius as much as you seem to think, then this might be good for him.”

“That’s a lot of ‘might’s.”

“Well it’s not like any of us really stuck around to get to know him after he tried using those mind control devices on us, so I’ve really only got my own very limited experience with him, and your judgment, to go off of.” She took his hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “But you’ve proven yourself to have pretty good judgment, at least most of the time, when it comes to people. So. How are you intending to go about reintroducing them?”

Emmet grinned brightly at her. “Well…”

~* *~

“So how long is this going to take?” Risky complained, following Emmet. He paused when he recognized their destination. It had been a very long time since he had been to this particular pizzeria. “Oh hey, I remember this place…”

“Don’t worry! I told you I have the _best_ plan. Just have some patience!”

He froze as they walked through the door. “Oh, uh. Your friends… I didn’t realize we were meeting them here too-”

“Is that okay?”

“Hi Risky!” Unikitty chirped. “Come sit down! Hope you don’t mind we already ordered!”

He waved as the others greeted him. “I didn’t think you would all be _happy_ to see me again.”

“You’re really not all that different from Busy,” Benny said. “You were acting out for pretty much the same reasons he did, just. You know. On a smaller scale. And we gave Busy a chance, so we thought, why not you too?”

“Ah, well, I appreciate that. Um.” He shrank back under the scrutinizing stare of the tall stranger at Benny’s side. “I don’t think I know your _other_ friends here, though.”

“Oh- that’s Cary!” Emmet piped up. “He’s really not that scary, I promise. He just, um…”

“Has a resting bitch face?” Lucy finished. Cary snorted at that and reached around the spaceman to poke her in the ribs. She squeaked and squirmed away from him, grinning. Benny threw his head back and cackled, and the man at Cary’s other side that Risky guessed was at least his brother if not his twin started snickering.

“I’m not sure I like your language, young lady,” an older woman gently chided, even as the older man at her side laughed.

“Sorry, Ma.”

Emmet grinned. “Anyway, they’re all the Callaghans. Cary, Alastar, and Keelan are triplets, and these are their parents, Nora and Daniel. We just call them Ma and Pa.”

“We agreed to let Emmet host his party at our house, but only if we got to meet you first,” Ma explained. “We’re still on the fence about President Business, even if our boys insist he’s getting better, and with your family’s history we weren’t too sure we were comfortable with having _two_ Businesses in our home.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Risky agreed. “I’m a little nervous about that myself.”

“_I_ think it’ll be fine,” Emmet insisted.

“Yeah,” Benny agreed, grinning. “Risky’s harmless.”

Risky wanted to roll his eyes at that- he hadn’t been going for ‘harmless’- but then he remembered what Emmet had told him, back in jail, and thought better of it. Whatever had given the young man that wicked cut certainly _had_ been worse than just trying to hypnotize the five of them into performing a show for his park. “You know, I’m still wondering what you all have been through for me to be labeled ‘harmless’.”

“Hope you’ve got some time,” Lucy said. “It’s probably going to take a few hours to explain.”


	10. Once A Day

**Chapter Nine: Once A Day**

Risky left their little meeting with his mind reeling. They truly had been through a lot worse than what he had tried to do to them. “Penny for your thoughts?” Emmet asked lightly, trying to hide a concerned look and not really succeeding at it. The Special had opted to escort him back to his apartment, picking up on how unsettled he felt even more than Risky himself did.

“It’s a lot to take in.” And he was certain he was even _more_ afraid of Cary now than he had been at first, despite everyone’s assurances. “I knew on some level what Sirius was doing was a bad thing… Especially once it got televised that he was attempting to Kragle _everyone_…”

“And that’s what inspired you to try the whole ‘evil overlord’ thing? Cause it seemed to be working for Sirius?”

Risky gave him a sardonic grin. “Something like that. I think I owe you more than just the one apology, Emmet. There’s a _lot_ more depth to you than can be seen on first impression, and I’m sorry I humiliated you like that.”

“Why thank you,” Emmet said, grinning at him. “Not often I hear that.”

Risky looked appalled. “Your _friends_ have never apologized for _their_ nonsense?”

Emmet’s smile softened as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “Not in _words_. There’s still a lot of pride that keeps them from actually saying things sometimes, but. They _see_ me. After spending my whole life being invisible to everyone else, that’s worth more than a thousand spoken apologies. At least to me.”

Risky could only shake his head. “You really are something else, Emmet.” He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, finally feeling like he had his head on straight again. “I think I can manage from here. It’s not much further anyway.”

“Well, if you’re certain…”

Risky gave him a grateful smile. “I am. I’ll see you around, Emmet.”

“See you.”

~* *~

Invitations went out a couple weeks before the party, with the instructions to bring a gift for a game. Sirius had taken a moment to admire the construction of the invitations- it looked like Emmet and Lucy had made them by hand- before finding himself dragged away by Benny to do some shopping.

“Remind me the rules of this stupid game again?” Sirius huffed as Benny tugged him around the mall in search of gifts. He’d had the mall built, but he had never had cause to shop at it himself, before. “Why is it even called Dirty Santa?”

“Because of the way it’s played,” Benny snickered. “Everyone attending the party brings a gift of equal or at least relative value- we all decided on twenty-five to thirty bucks- and we each get assigned a number. When your number is drawn, you have the choice of choosing a gift to unwrap, or stealing someone else’s if you aren’t the first one called. Gifts can be stolen up to two times, but if someone steals your gift, you can’t steal it back. You have to steal from someone else. The game ends when everybody has a gift.”

“That sounds dumb. Why would anyone want to _steal_ such a cheap gift?”

Benny laughed. “I know thirty dollars is just pocket change to you, but for the rest of us, that’s a fair chunk of money. Besides, it’s all in the spirit of fun. You should also pick out some legit gifts, though. We all got you something.” He grinned. “I think you’ll really like it.”

Sirius turned to stare at him. “What, did you all chip in to get me one big gift?”

“Well we each got you a ‘stocking stuffer’ type gift too, but yeah, we all kind of pitched in on one.”

“And what could you have possibly gotten for me that I couldn’t have afforded for myself?”

Benny smirked. “Ah ah, that would be ruining the surprise. You’ll just have to wait.” Sirius huffed at him.

“So, Mister Chaperone, I take it you’re tagging along to help me pick out good gifts that everyone will actually like?”

“Well, yeah, that was kind of the idea. I’m sure you know us all well enough by now to have a fair idea of what we’ll like or not, but it never hurts to have a second opinion.” Benny poked him. “I’m also here to make sure you don’t spend _too_ much money on us.”

“How much money I spend on my friends is my business and my business alone, thank you very much.” Sirius sniffed at him. Benny snickered and floated up behind him, wrapping his arms around Sirius’ shoulders in a loose hug. Sirius smiled slightly and relaxed into the embrace, trying to ignore the odd looks the other shoppers were giving them.

“And I appreciate the sentiment, but at least most of us would feel really guilty if you got us all these super nice, expensive gifts, and we can’t afford to get you anything on the same tier.”

“Benny, this is my first Christmas in _thirty-six years_. That you all even _want_ to celebrate it with me is a pretty big gift in itself. And you’ve all stuck by me to make sure I stay on track, and you’ve been my friends, even though didn’t have to, and-” He sighed. “And I know it sounds really dumb, but the only way I know _how_ to show my appreciation for all that you’ve done for me is to spend a lot of money. So. Please let me?”

The hug tightened. “Dude, don’t make me cry in the middle of the _mall_, that’s not fair.”

Sirius chuckled and reached up to give one of Benny’s wrists a gentle squeeze. “Don’t go making a spectacle of yourself yet, Benny, we still have a _lot_ of presents to buy.”

“Fiiiiiine, but you better let me cry it out when we’re done!”

“As long as Cary doesn’t come for my head for _making_ you cry, we have a deal.”


	11. The Feeling Begins

**Chapter Ten: The Feeling Begins**

Keelan sat at the table, idly doodling, a piece of pumpkin pie his mother had given him left mostly untouched. It had been nearly two months since he had moved in with his parents- Christmas was only a few days away, and he was so excited to celebrate it. Even more exciting was that it was shaping up to be one of those much desired White Christmases- snow had started falling a couple nights before, and had been falling steadily since. Unable to focus in the face of their youngest triplet’s elation, his brothers had left work early and rounded up their friends to bring them over and have a proper snowball fight. And then there was the reunion Emmet was planning- he really hoped reintroducing the two Business brothers went well, though he was nervous about seeing Sirius again. Hopefully his brothers’ proximity would help keep any panic from becoming overwhelming.

His night terrors had finally lessened to a point where he thought he might finally be able to function like a normal human being again (and Cary and Alastar had been immensely helpful with that, even from a distance- there was nothing quite like feeling Alastar’s gentle reassurance, or Cary’s fierce protectiveness, when he felt he might drown in terror), but now the problem was finding something to do with himself. It was already looking like their separation was shaping up to be permanent. Cary was certainly starting to find reason to enjoy having mental privacy for once, and Benny had a lot to do with that. Keelan himself still wasn’t certain he could tolerate sharing headspace again, nor did he even find himself missing it all that much. But then, he hadn’t had as much time to adjust to it as his brothers, either.

He found himself growing more _bored_ as time passed, too. He had read every book in the house, including his parents’ outdated encyclopedia set. When he had exhausted that resource, he’d turned to the internet. He often found his thoughts turning to the expedition he’d become fully conscious in the middle of. That had been… a _lot_ of fun, while it lasted. Exploring uncharted territory, discovering new places (or re-discovering, as it were), the strong sense of companionship they had all shared… Ever since they’d returned to Bricksburg, he had longed to go back to that, but his brothers’ lives were in the city.

At least the party was in just a few more days, and Metalbeard was going to be there. He could talk to his pirate friend then, and see if the captain was amenable to having him tag along for another voyage.

“Keelan, dear, you’ve barely touched your pie,” Ma’s voice broke through his wandering thoughts. He jumped in surprise.

“Oh… Hi, Mum, Yeah, I- I kinda f-forgot about it…”

She pulled out a chair, sitting next to him. “Got a lot on your mind?”

“I guess… I feel- _guilty_ for just- sitting here doing… nothing, b-but… I- I don’t really know what, um, what I want to do… Did… did Cary and Alastar ever have this- this much trouble?”

Ma smiled patiently at him. “Those boys knew what they wanted from day one, and went for it. Oh, Pa and I got _so_ many questions!” Keelan slumped in his chair. “But not everybody figures out what they want to do so easily, and that’s normal. Is there anything that draws your attention?”

“I…” He toyed with his pencil. “I really liked when we were on the expedition… That was- that was fun.”

“Have you thought of asking your captain friend if he would mind taking you on another voyage?”

“I have. I’m- I’m going to ask him when he’s here, f-for the party.”

“Well then, there you go.” She leaned over to kiss his cheek, and he smiled. “Speaking of parties, I was just about to leave to get the supplies we need. Would you like to come? I could use the help.”

Keelan considered the offer, and for a moment, Ma thought he would refuse again. His panic attack in the grocery store a few weeks before had really left an impression on him, and he had refused to leave the house again since, despite his brothers’ attempts at encouraging him. “Y-yeah, um, I could- I could do with getting out of the house.” Ma smiled to herself, considering it a victory, and took his shaking hands into her own.

“My brave boy,” she quietly praised. “When we get back, we’ll put that artistic talent of yours to use and get started on the decorations.”

“O-okay.”

~* *~

“Oh, goodness,” Alastar giggled when he saw the collection of future Christmas presents sitting in a heap in the middle of the living room floor. “You and Benny really went all out.”

“Yeah,” Sirius huffed, folding his arms across his chest. “And now I need help wrapping them, those video tutorials were no help whatsoever…”

Alastar set down his armful of gift wrapping supplies, now glad he had thought to grab some after the President had called him with the surprising order of “get over here already, I need help getting these boxes wrapped”. It didn’t look like Sirius had much left after tearing the paper off again and again in his attempts to get it _just right_. “It just takes practice, is all. I do hope whatever you got for me isn’t in this mess.”

Sirius waved him off. “Yes, yes, I made sure to hide it, I’ll take care of it once I get this figured out,” he said, unable to bring himself to admit he hadn’t actually gotten either of the Cops a gift yet. Finding them something he felt would be appropriately meaningful was proving to be more of a challenge than he had initially thought. He sat on the floor, watching as Alastar rolled out a length of wrapping paper and set a box on it, figuring out where he needed to cut it. He huffed as the cop cut off a section with a single clean slice. “Showoff,” he grumbled.

Alastar laughed. “Don’t worry, Sir, I’ll have you wrapping presents like a pro by the time we’re done here. Pass me that roll of tape, would you?”

They worked together in relative silence for a couple minutes, Sirius holding or taping down pieces at Alastar’s instruction. “Huh,” he said as he sat back to get a better look at it, once it was finished. “That was a _lot_ easier than the videos made it out to be.”

Alastar smiled at him. “Think you can do the next one by yourself, then?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to cut the paper as nice as you did…”

“Sir, I really don’t think anyone is going to care. Especially when that paper is just going to be torn to shreds anyway. It doesn’t have to be _perfect_, it just has to be covered.” Alastar reached for his sheet of stickers, placing one on the top. “Who was this one for?”

Sirius frowned to himself as he took a moment to remember. “Oh, right. That one’s for Emmet.” Alastar wrote the name down on the tag. “Give me that roll next to you.”

“Is it really so hard to say ‘please’?” Alastar teased, even as he handed it over. Sirius rolled his eyes.

“_Please_.”

Silence for another few minutes, with the exception of Alastar’s quiet humming. Sirius glared down at his current project; it didn’t look quite as nice without the cop’s help. But it was covered, and he reminded himself that that was all that mattered. “…How’s Keelan doing?”

Alastar glanced back up at him, a little surprised by the question. “Better. Still not _great_, but better. I think the nightmares are finally easing up, he doesn’t wake us as often anymore, at least. Mum’s even gotten him to go out with her a couple times.” He smirked. “I think he’s starting to drive them all nuts though. She’s charged him with decorations for the party. Should keep him occupied for the next week or so.”

“How do you mean?”

“He’s getting restless. He talks about wanting to go out and see the world, but he’s still shy about showing his face around other people. I think that need to get out and _do something_ is going to win out before too much longer, though.”

“Shame we don’t happen to know somebody who goes out and does just that on a regular basis.” Alastar laughed. “Metalbeard _is_ coming, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he promised he would come. I think Benny and Unikitty threatened him with the pouty faces.”

Sirius snorted. “Yeah, sounds about right. Well, good for Keelan. He deserves to get out and explore.”

Alastar paused in his wrapping. “Oh. Oh dear.”

“What?”

“I just had a thought.” Sirius gave him a look that clearly said ‘spit it out already’. “The party’s going to be the first time you and Keelan have been around or even _seen_ each other since Halloween night.”

Sirius froze, every muscle tensing. How had this not occurred to him before? “This could be problematic,” he said, even as his heart started racing at the thought. He swallowed hard against the rising nausea.

“Sir? Oh, drat,” Alastar muttered, reaching out and placing a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Deep breaths, that’s it…”

“This is so _stupid_,” the President grumbled. “I _know_ it wasn’t him, but I can’t-” He let out an aggravated growl, dropping his face into his hands. He simply breathed for a minute, then rubbed at his face. “I _won’t_ let it ruin the party, I promise. But um. Maybe stick close…?”

“Of course, Sir.”


	12. Be Good To Yourself

**Chapter Eleven: Be Good To Yourself**

Sirius switched on the lights for the Repairs shop, talking in the pile of deactivated police bots. Most of them he vaguely recognized as being from the Cops’ hand picked team, the few that had survived the Master Builders’ onslaught. He had found them scattered about the old Tower, having simply dropped where they were when the TAKOS control room exploded. Maybe sporting some minor damage, but certainly nothing beyond repair. Some niggling instinct had told him to hang on to them; maybe he could find a use for them in the future.

Well, he certainly had ideas now. The Cops had proven ridiculously hard to shop for- not so much in that they were picky, but that they just… didn’t want for much. Benny had suggested something that would show his appreciation for them instead, but even after extensive hunting in every shopping center in Bricksburg and even several other realms and online, nothing seemed _right_. So he decided, if he couldn’t offer material gifts, he’d offer them some extra help over the holidays. Surely they would appreciate that? And really, how hard could it be to fix them up? The robots had been _his_ brainchildren, after all. But with Christmas only four days away now, he knew he was cutting it close. He hoped he’d have them ready on time.

He pulled over the tool box and powered up the desktop. He would need it to update their programming, once the repairs were complete. As he waited for it to boot up, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work, separating the pile and setting each bot upright before cataloguing the repairs they needed. Most of it would be simple enough.

He lost himself in his thought as he worked, tightening loose bolts, popping joints back into their sockets, replacing broken optics. It was… strange, feeling such excitement over what he’d always been taught was a _pointless_ holiday. Arthur Business certainly hadn’t hesitated to take advantage of the rampant commercialism surrounding the winter season, but there was no way he would ever let his _own_ child take part in it. Arthur Business thought it beneath him, apparently.

But as the others included him in their festive activities, he began to understand that it wasn’t just buying into social expectations, or the commercialism of it, but an opportunity to show friends and family that they _mattered_. That they were thought of. Emmet had even gone so far as to include his coworkers and neighbors and Lucy’s students. Because it was a season of thinking of others.

He could get behind that logic.

It brought to mind his grandparents, long dead and gone. He paused at the stray thought; he hadn’t really thought of them since he was a young child. But after a moment of hesitance he began to sift through the memories. They were so faint, so vague, more feeling than clarity. But he remembered that he was loved. The very few Christmases that he could remember with them, they would always come to get him, bring him to their home out in the suburbs for a week and shower him with attention and affection and lots of hugs.

He wondered where they had gone wrong in raising his father. Was the attention they gave him their attempt to make up for having raised their own son so poorly? …No, he was certain they had done the best they could, they were such loving people, from what he could remember of them. Maybe it had just been their attempt at countering the damage his father was doing, raising him under such strict control, grooming him to be the ‘perfect’ heir to the Octan throne.

Sirius paused, realizing his hands were shaking. Something in his chest constricted, and tears prickled at his eyes. Great. He had come here to lose himself in menial labor and _not_ think, as overwhelmed as he was feeling by all this Christmas stuff. He knew his friends meant well, but he felt like he’d been tossed right into the deep end and, until now, had just barely been keeping his head above water.

He took only long enough to scrub the grease off his hands before calling Bobby and barking at the chauffeur to have the car ready. The stone in his chest only grew heavier as he made his way down to the garage and slumped in the back seat of the car, grumbling at Bobby to take him to Marble Street. He didn’t even give thought to the possibility his friends might not be home; he didn’t know what he would do if they weren’t. But he hadn’t forgotten Alastar’s offer to drop by unannounced. His friend was… too good to him. He really didn’t deserve it. He scrubbed at his face, drawing in a shaky breath to calm his nerves.

He didn’t even wait for Bobby to park the car before shoving the door open and stalking up to the apartment building, making a beeline for the elevator and jabbing the button for the top floor. It was only a few seconds before the doors closed and the elevator started its journey up, but it felt like an eternity. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open once more. He stepped out, and was surprised to be greeted with music, faint but pleasant. The music grew louder as he made his way down the hall. It wasn’t coming from Benny’s apartment, and his door was locked anyway (Benny _never_ locked his door when he was home), so it could only be coming from the Cops’ place. Though he’d lived literally across the hall for a few weeks, he had never actually been inside their apartment. He took a deep breath and knocked. The music stopped almost immediately. A few seconds later the door opened, and he was greeted by Alastar’s surprised stare. “Sir?” he questioned. “What are you doing here?”

“I really needed to get out of the Tower for a while, it was…” He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I felt like I was drowning. It’s too much.” Without another word, Alastar nudged him inside. Once he had slipped out of his shoes and hung up his coat, he was herded toward the couch. With a sigh, Cary began to pack up his violin.

“Oh. Was- was that you guys playing? I didn’t know you knew how.”

“Cary was helping me practice,” Alastar confirmed. He grabbed the fleece blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around Sirius’ shoulders before pushing him down to sit on the surprisingly comfy piece of furniture. “I’m playing at the party.”

“You’re really good.” He wrapped the blanket more tightly around himself. “Would you mind playing some more…?” The two brothers glanced at each other. Rolling his eyes, Cary picked up his violin again.

“For the record, this isn’t fair.”

Sirius tried not to flinch at his tone. “What’s not?”

“That _you_ got to hear me play before _Benny_.”

“Oh. I’m. Sorry?”

“You _still_ haven’t played for Benny??” Cary didn’t answer, instead touched the bow to the strings and began playing Silent Night. Alastar huffed and gestured rudely at him before heading toward the adjoining kitchen, making Sirius snort in amusement. Watching them halfway made him wish he had a brother to bicker with. “Do you like your cocoa with marshmallows? Candy canes? Whipped cream and sprinkles?”

“Oh, you don’t have to-”

“Just answer the question, Sir.”

“…Candy canes are good.” Alastar smiled brightly at him, and started gathering ingredients to make hot chocolate from scratch. Sirius tried to smile back, but it quickly fell. He hunched in on himself, pulling the blanket to cover his head as he listened to Cary playing, Alastar softly singing along in the kitchen. Between songs, Cary nudged the box of tissues closer to him. Sirius nodded his thanks, but didn’t take one- he wasn’t quite to the point of needing them, and was honestly starting to feel better already. Their apartment was cozy and comfortable and far more homey than his penthouse, even with his friends’ efforts to make it feel more like a home and not just the place he lived. The company was a vast improvement as well.

After a few minutes Alastar returned, a trio of mugs in hand. Sirius gratefully accepted his mug, letting its warmth soak into him. “You want to talk about it?” Alastar offered, voice soft, as he sat beside the President. Cary put his violin away for real this time, sitting on his other side.

“I guess I’ve been thinking too much lately,” Sirius said, staring down at his mug. “All this Christmas stuff…” He glanced up at Alastar. “You remember I said I haven’t celebrated since I was six, right?” Alastar nodded. “It was because of my grandparents that I ever did at all. They’d come get me for the last week in December. Father threw a fit every year, said they were spoiling me too much. When they died, that was it. I… haven’t really thought about them, since. Sounds terrible, I know. But all this hype you’ve all roped me into has gotten me thinking about them again, and _that_ got me thinking about _other_ things…”

“Us?” Cary ventured.

“Yeah,” Sirius said quietly. “I still don’t understand. How _any_ of you could want anything to do with me, after all I’ve done, but you two especially… I don’t get how you can just- act like nothing I did to hurt you ever happened. Like you’ve _forgotten_. _I_ can’t…”

“Because that’s what forgiveness means,” Alastar told him. “Certainly we haven’t _forgotten_\- we learned our lessons, and we’re not going to let you take advantage of us like that again, any more than we’re going to let you slip back into your Lord Business mindset. But we’ve also moved on from it. You’re not the same person you were back then, and neither are we. Remember _that_ the next time you feel like being so hard on yourself.” Sirius sat quietly for a minute before letting his head thump against Alastar’s shoulder. Alastar smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“…Why don’t we see what’s on tv? Maybe there’s something not Christmassy on,” Cary suggested, grabbing the remote and turning on the television. He flipped through the guide for a bit. “There we go, Star Wars. And we’ve only missed the first few minutes.” He settled back into the couch, stretching an arm across the back, which Sirius recognized as a protective gesture. He smiled to himself. Between that and Alastar fussing over him (“would you like some more cocoa? A snack? Please tell me you at least ate _something_ before you rushed over he- _you didn’t_. Augh. Stay here.”), he thought he might just survive the long night after all.

~* *~

_Cary returned to the apartment the next morning to collect the last few of his belongings, and chuckled when he saw his brother and his boss passed out together on the couch, the television still on. They must have stayed up until some ridiculous hours of the morning, watching movies until they crashed. He smirked and pulled out his phone; this was a photo op he could _not_ pass up._

_Alastar had stretched out along the length of the couch, glasses pushed up onto his forehead, Sirius lying on top of him and using his chest as a pillow. One of the President’s arms dangled over the side of the couch, with Alastar’s folded over his back. He texted the photo to Benny, and made his way back to the bedroom. By the time he had finished packing up the rest of his stuff a few minutes later, Benny had texted back with “i ship it ;)” He huffed his amusement and grabbed his duffel bag, leaving as quietly as he came._

_But not before grabbing their phones to take pictures on, as well. He wondered how long it would take them to find it._


	13. Carousel

**Chapter Twelve: Carousel**

Sirius slowly rose to consciousness, feeling pleasantly warm and surprisingly well rested. He froze when his pillow breathed. _Oh lord. Don’t tell me…_ He could sort of remember dozing off halfway through a showing of The Empire Strikes Back, but he was pretty certain he hadn’t been _laying on top of Alastar_. When did this arrangement happen??

On one hand, he was incredibly tempted to shove himself away in utter mortification- and he very nearly did, drawing his arms close and pressing his palms to the cushions- and yet…

And yet…

It was… nice, to be held. He closed his eyes, relaxing once more. Would it really be so bad to just… lay there, and pretend for a while…?

His bladder made the decision for him.

With a grumble he pushed himself up, gently removing Alastar’s arms and folding them across his stomach before starting his search for the bathroom. When he emerged again, it was to find Alastar up and getting a pot of coffee started. He frowned. “So. What the heck was _that?_” He gestured toward the couch.

Alastar busied himself with pulling breakfast ingredients from the fridge. “What’s what?”

“You couldn’t have just- given me a pillow and a blanket, and gone to your own bed like a _normal_ person?”

The cop fixed him with a stare. “Would you have slept even half as well if I’d done just that?”

Sirius worked his jaw for a moment. “What?”

“Edwin told me you’re still having night terrors.” He looked away again, grabbing a box of pancake mix from the cupboard. “I thought, maybe if your subconscious knew you had someone nearby looking out for you, it wouldn’t torment you. If only for a night.” He stared at the back of the box, under the pretense of reading the recipe. (Not that he needed to, he had it memorized word for word, but he needed something to look at other than his friend.) “You- you did sleep well, right? I know you tend to be a light sleeper, anyway.”

Sirius realized he hadn’t woken even once, during the night. “I- …yeah I guess I did, actually.”

“Have a seat, coffee will be done soon.” Sirius sat down at the table, watching as Alastar made his coffee. He took a sip when the mug was set down in front of him, and froze. It was… _exactly_ how it always was when the Cops brought him coffee. He turned wide eyes to Alastar.

“You-” Alastar just smiled at him. “And here I’d assumed you bought it someplace, I didn’t know you’d been making it for me _yourself_ this whole time… Explains why I never could figure out where you got it from.” He sat back, enjoying his coffee in silence as Alastar set about making breakfast. After a few minutes, a plate of pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs was set before him. “…What is with you and _feeding_ me?”

“What kind of host would I be if I let you leave hungry?” A bottle of syrup- real maple syrup, not the cheap knock-off stuff- was set on the table. Sirius huffed at him in response, but it _did_ smell good. And the eggs were perfectly peppered. He slumped a bit in his chair as he watched Alastar cook the rest of the food, a thought occurring to him.

“Somebody out there is seriously missing out on having you as a husband.” The cop turned to give him a surprised look.

“And where did this come from?”

“You just seem so… _happy_, to be doing this sort of thing for someone.” He dropped his fork with a clatter and shoved himself away from the table. “And here I am, wasting your time when you could be _looking_ for that someone-”

“_Sit down_, Sirius.” He froze at the commanding tone, turning wide eyes to Alastar as he slowly sank back into his chair. “Why the sudden interest in my love life, or lack thereof?”

Sirius fought not to squirm under that stare, finding himself wishing he’d never opened his mouth, now. This wasn’t a conversation he had ever wanted to have, but he didn’t think Alastar was going to let him off the hook so easily, not when he’d been the one to start it. His eyes dropped to the table. He already felt too vulnerable as it was. “…When I was a kid, I wanted to fall in love and get married and have kids of my own someday,” he started, uncharacteristically quiet. Alastar listened patiently. “I mean I know my parents were awful examples, but I had my grandparents, for however brief a time, and tv of course, and it seemed like such a wonderful thing to find someone you could be that happy with. But no matter how many young women my father tried to set me up with, no matter how many of his coworkers’ kids I was introduced to, no matter how many people I danced with when I managed to sneak out… None of them really ‘clicked’.”

“Because you’re-”

“Yes,” Sirius interrupted, barely restraining himself from snapping the word out. He didn’t need the reminder of how _broken_ he was spoken out loud. “And then the whole Lord Business thing happened, and I figured _any_ possibility of that happening for me went down the toilet. But you’re… a wonderful person who deserves to have someone in your life. And I don’t want you to end up as alone and miserable as me because you’re spending so much time looking after my dumb a- …butt.” Alastar snorted at his aborted attempt at swearing, starting to smile. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…”

“Who says I’m miserable?” Sirius glanced back up at him, startled.

“But-”

“Maybe I get a little lonely sometimes,” Alastar agreed, sounding inordinately cheerful, “but I’m hardly miserable. What _did_ make me depressed was failed relationship after failed relationship, because I _was_ trying to find that someone, perhaps a little too hard. When it’s meant to happen- _if_ it’s meant to happen- it’ll happen then, and not a moment before. And until that point, I’m not going to sweat it.” He sat across from Sirius with his own breakfast, and looked the President right in the eye. “And making sure my friend is okay and ready to face another day is _never_ a waste of my time. So you better get used to it.”

“…Yes, sir…” Sirius mumbled, but felt a little better for it. He picked up his fork again, jabbing at a piece of scrambled egg. They finished their breakfast in silence, and Sirius didn’t miss how Alastar was deliberately taking his time, letting him finish at his own pace rather than feel like he needed to rush. He was grateful for that consideration; though the food really was good, his stomach was still twisting from their conversation, and his admission. It eventually reached a point where Alastar did have to get a move on, though, and he said as much.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want you to feel like I’m just kicking you out, but I do have to get to work-”

“It’s fine, I have a project I should be getting back to now anyway.” Alastar made a sound of interest, giving him a curious look. Sirius smirked. “You’ll see soon enough. It’s not really ready for sharing just yet.”

“Ohh, fine…”


	14. Glad You Came

**Chapter Thirteen: Glad You Came**

Keelan waited with equal amounts of excitement and nervousness. His brothers, Benny, and Unikitty had all agreed to come early to help set everything up, though he knew it was to also help smooth over Sirius’ arrival. Apparently the President hadn’t taken the reminder very well, either. Keelan slowly drew in a deep breath and released it. He hadn’t really had any issues being around Risky, despite the elder Business looking so much like his brother, so he hoped seeing Sirius again wouldn’t be so bad.

“Keelan!” Unikitty squealed as she bounced through the door, bounding over to him to rub up against his side, purring loudly. Keelan laughed and stroked her fur.

“Hi!”

“Ohh I’m so excited I _love_ parties!! Are the decorations ready? Can we put them up yet?”

“Yeah, I j-just finished making them, um, last night.”

“Oh you _made them_ that’s even _better!_”

Alastar smiled and made his way into the kitchen, where their parents were already bustling about getting food prepared. “Anything I can help with, Mum?”

“Oh, yes,” Ma said. “Those cookies need decorating. I already mixed up the frosting for them.” He glanced over to where she nodded and saw there were several plastic containers sitting near the tub of cut out cookies, each containing a different color (and knowing Ma, different flavors too). There was also an assortment of sprinkles and other candies to decorate them with. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

As Keelan and Unikitty put up the decorations, Cary and Benny worked on putting the table cloth on the table and setting out paper plates and plastic utensils. Within an hour, they had the place looking ready for a party. Pa glanced at his watch. “Our guests should start arriving soon,” he announced. It was only a few minutes later that Emmet and Lucy pulled into the driveway. Keelan watched in fascination as Metalbeard unfolded himself from the back seat of Emmet’s little hatchback. Together they hauled in a sizeable pile of presents.

“You know Bruce and Busy are both probably going to be ‘fashionably late’,” Benny snickered.

“Oh, Bruce _definitely_ will,” Lucy chimed in, rolling her eyes. “Gotta wait til everybody’s here so all eyes are on him when he arrives, you know how he is.”

“Ye sure Business won’t be causin’ a scene, seein’ yer brother again?”

“Oh, I made sure he had time to mentally prepare himself,” Alastar said. “He certainly seemed determined not to let it be a problem, but we’ll see. I really hope he doesn’t decide to chicken out…”

“Doesn’t look like he did.” Everyone glanced over to where Cary was pointing out the window, to see a familiar dark silver car coming down the lane.

“Oh good!” Emmet cheered. “I really hope this works out!” Alastar smiled and moved to answer the door as Sirius came up the walk, arms loaded with boxes, Bobby coming along behind him with a few more.

“You can just set everything by the tree over there,” he pointed out. Sirius nodded once and did as directed without a word. Keelan bit his lip, scooting closer to Cary to press against his side.

Sirius straightened again after setting down his pile of gifts. “Alright, let’s just get this over with,” he sighed, and turned to face the crowd behind him. He clenched his fists as his gaze fell on Keelan, drawing in a sharp breath, but he refused to look away. He took a step, then another, bringing himself closer to the triplets. Keelan flinched back, shuffling as if trying to put some distance between them again, but Cary’s arm around him wouldn’t let him retreat.

“I’m- I’m s-so-”

“_Don’t_,” Sirius cut him off. He relaxed slightly when a hand pressed against his back. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I _know_ it wasn’t you, that he was just wearing your face when he… I just have to keep reminding myself that he’s gone and can’t ever hurt anyone again.” Haltingly, he raised his arms, opening them to Keelan. “Are we good?” He let out an ‘oof!’ as the youngest Callaghan nearly tackled him in his haste to accept the hug, tensing again. “Geez, take it easy,” he complained, and awkwardly patted Keelan’s back. “Um. You can let go now.”

“S-sorry,” Keelan murmured as he released him, but he wore a slight smile.

“That went well,” Alastar said, breaking the tension. “How about we officially get this party started?”

“Yeah!” Unikitty cheered, bouncing.

~* *~

It was finally time for him to come to the party. Risky tried not to fidget as he approached the small house. Emmet seemed confident that his plan would work, but Risky was still nervous. After all, what did one say to a brother they hadn’t seen in forty years and had no idea they existed? The music he could hear inside helped his nerves a little. He took a deep breath, and pressed the doorbell. “Sirius, would you mind getting that?” he heard Emmet call, and braced himself, hoping to make a good first impression.

The door opened, and he found himself staring at someone who was almost his mirror image. A little taller, a fair bit leaner, and a lot less gray, but he could definitely see why they’d mistaken him for his baby brother when they had first met. Sirius stared back, utterly bemused. “…Who are you?”

“I’m Ris- um. Rigel. Rigel Business. I’m your brother.”

The bemused look turned to one of astonishment. “…I have a _brother??_ They never said…”

“I know,” Risky muttered bitterly. “You were born when I was fifteen. They had me young- and I mean ‘I was an accident and the only reason they even got married’ young. Arthur kicked me out two years later and filed a restraining order against me so I could never come see you- he didn’t want me ‘corrupting’ you, or whatever.”

“He was _very_ strict in how he raised me…” Sirius murmured. “Why didn’t you come find me after…?”

Risky shrugged. “I was scared. I figured it was a safe bet they had never told you about me, and you were still kind of young, and they’d just died, I didn’t think you would take well to some random guy coming up and claiming to be your brother.”

“So why now?”

_“Surprise!”_ Sirius jolted at the sudden shouting, whirling around to stare at his friends.

“I, uh.” Risky grinned sheepishly. “Had a bit of a run in with some of your friends here, back in October. Emmet set this up for us.”

“You guys…” A grin slowly crept across his face. “Oh my gosh, I have a _brother_. Best Christmas gift _ever!!_”

Risky nearly squeaked when Sirius’ hand closed around his wrist and dragged him inside. Sirius made a beeline for Emmet, only releasing Risky to wrap his arms around the young man. Emmet beamed at him, hugging him back. “I know how awful it feels, being all alone in the world,” he spoke softly. “After I’d talked to him about you, I knew I had to get the two of you together. You deserve to know you have family that actually _cares_.”

“Stop that, Brickowski, you’re going to make me start crying,” Sirius muttered back, and Emmet giggled.

“You’re welcome.”

Benny drifted over as Sirius and Risky retreated to a quieter corner of the dining room to converse. “You done good, kid.” Emmet smiled at him.

“I’m glad that worked out so well. I haven’t seen him so happy in _months_.”

“I know,” Benny sighed. “Even before the whole Halloween fiasco.”

Lucy winced. “Yeah… I still feel awful about mistaking Risky for Sirius. Proof enough how much we’d been neglecting him that we couldn’t even tell the difference.” She took Emmet’s hand. “Do you ever think about trying to get in contact with your family?”

“Nah,” Emmet answered. “They didn’t bother trying to reach out to _me_, even after you plastered my face all over television.” He grinned as she blushed. “And I’ve come to realize I’m much better off without them. I told you, _you_ guys are my family now. And I couldn’t be happier.”

Benny smiled at him. “Well said.”


	15. Waiting For You

**Chapter Fourteen: Waiting For You**

“Jealous?” Cary teased as he walked over to where Alastar leaned against the wall, watching the two Business brothers getting to know each other. Keelan wasn’t far behind him.

“Why in the world should I be jealous that he’s been reunited with his brother?” Alastar answered, sounding genuinely confused.

“Because he’s not paying attention to _you_. Why else would you be watching them like a hawk?”

Alastar rolled his eyes. “I’m _not_ jealous.”

“He totally is,” Keelan giggled.

“That’s enough out of you,” Alastar shushed him. He only laughed harder. Cary smirked.

“Aww, you guys are having your own little party and you didn’t invite _me??_” Benny pouted, making his way over to the three brothers. Cary reached for him, pulling him close when Benny took his hand. “They seem to be getting along well.”

“Like a house on fire.”

“Oh, don’t- d-don’t say that.”

“Are you calling them a recipe for disaster?” Alastar snickered. They glanced over at Sirius’ disbelieving laugh, catching the sheepish smile on Risky’s face. Likely relating the tale of just _how_ he had met Sirius’ friends.

“If the shoe fits. Maybe I _should_ leave you to your observations, they probably need someone to keep an eye on them after all.”

“If you say so, Mister Paranoid,” Alastar teased. Benny snickered.

After a minute they decided to leave Alastar to his observations (rather, to his _pining_, Keelan thought to himself), and made their way over to where Metalbeard was boisterously telling some Christmas related tale of his, something involving mistletoe and fake garland and one of his more haphazard crew members. And Benny, from the way the spaceman started grinning. Keelan smiled as the rest of the pirate captain’s audience exploded into laughter at the conclusion of the tale. Emmet had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over.

“So basically-” Lucy giggled. “Basically you set up this _entire elaborate prank_, just to get this guy smooched?”

“Lucy. _Dude_. Let me tell you, this guy was pining _so hard_, I had to do _something_ cause he sure as hell wasn’t going to!”

“Last I heard, they got hitched and still be quite happy together,” Metalbeard chuckled.

“Ben the cupid,” Bad Cop snickered. The spaceman grinned.

“What be on yer mind, lad?” Metalbeard asked, finally taking notice of Keelan patiently waiting at the edge of the group.

“I’ve been thinking, um, about… how much I’d like to- to go on another adventure,” Keelan admitted. “But I don’t… Are there even still an-any adventures left to have?”

“I don’t see why not,” Benny told him. “There’s a whole planet out there! So much more than just the west coast we’ve all stuck to for so long. Like Atlantis, or the temples that we visited. And, y’know, there’s the whole Forest out there, yet.” Keelan bit his lip at that, unsure.

“But if you’re looking for something with an end goal, rather than just random exploration, I’ve got an idea,” Unikitty piped up. Keelan turned his attention to her, curious. “There’s this heirloom that’s been in my family for a very long time, so long that nobody even remembers what it’s for anymore! Only that it’s very important.”

Keelan seemed absolutely intrigued by that thought. “Could… c-could I…?”

“Sure!” she chirped. “I’m heading home to spend Christmas with my family, so I’ll see if Mom and Dad will let me bring it with me when I come back! And then you can see if you can figure out what it goes to!”

“Okay!”

~* *~

Risky clasped his hands together as they all left the Callaghans’ home once the party was over, trying not to look as nervous as he felt. He honestly hadn’t expected their meeting to go anywhere near as well as it had, and he wondered if perhaps Sirius would be indifferent now that they were all splitting up to head home and he no longer had the comfort of his group of friends.

“So, uh. I guess we go our separate ways now?”

“I guess so,” Sirius murmured in response, seeming a little distracted. Risky tried his hardest not to look as disappointed as he felt, when- “Hey, give me your number.”

Risky jolted. “What?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Your cell phone number? So I can call you?”

Risky perked up again at that. “Oh- yeah, sure! Whenever you’re ready.” He waited as Sirius brought up the contacts list on his phone, then gave him an expectant look, typing in the numbers as Risky recited them. He pulled his own phone out of his pocket when it chimed a moment later, snickering at the simple text message that read ‘this is sirius’. “To the point. I like it.” Sirius snorted at him.

“Well. I’ll be seeing you around, then.”

“Definitely,” Risky agreed, fighting to keep the threatening grin from taking over his face. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas.”

Sirius watched as Risky gave a last enthusiastic wave before driving off, then climbed into the back seat of his own car, allowing himself a small smile.

A brother. He had a _brother_. He stared at the new number in his contacts list. It almost hadn’t felt real, at first. He wondered, for a moment, why none of his friends had thought to bring it up sooner, but then decided he couldn’t be mad about it. Finding out he had a sibling really _was_ the best Christmas gift ever, he hadn’t been exaggerating about that.

Risky seemed like a bit of a dope, if Sirius was being honest, but also genuine. He took Sirius’ questions in stride, and knew things no one outside of their family could have _possibly_ known. He was the real deal. He set his phone down and put a hand over his eyes, simply breathing for a minute.

“Sir?” came his chauffeur’s robotic voice.

“I’m fine, Bobby,” he answered. “A little overwhelmed right now, but in a good way. You just worry about getting us home, alright?”

“Yes, sir.”


	16. Gratitude

**Chapter Fifteen: Gratitude**

It was a little easier to pull himself out of bed that morning. Oh, the nightmares had still come, but he had a reason to get up that he actually looked forward to. He had managed to get the police bots repaired and updated on time, and they were chomping at the bit to see their Chiefs again. He showered, and stood at the mirror just long enough to run a comb through his hair before fleeing to his closet.

White dress shirt.

Red tie.

Red…

_He stood in the living room, trying very hard not to tug at his suit. It had been tailored specifically for him, and it fit like a glove, but he wasn’t entirely certain the look of it really suited him. But his father had insisted- it would be the first time he accompanied the elder Business to a company function. A New Year’s party, to be exact, and Arthur was adamant that he look like a Business. Especially as he would finally be getting introduced to so many of his father’s coworkers._

_“You’re missing something,” Arthur muttered as he looked his son over, then stalked out of the living room. Sirius glanced to his mother in askance, but as expected, he wasn’t even acknowledged. He allowed himself a tiny sigh, making sure it wouldn’t be audible to either of his parents. Arthur returned shortly after with one of his ties. It was plain red silk, with no pattern or texture or other adornments. He fought not to wrinkle his nose in distaste. “Problem?” Arthur asked, and it took every ounce of self-control Sirius possessed not to flinch back from his tone._

_“Isn’t red a bit… aggressive?”_

_“That’s the whole point of it,” Arthur huffed at him. “You are the son of the President of Octan Corporation, you should start looking the part.” He gave Sirius a disdainful look. “And_ acting_ like it. Now pay attention.” Sirius watched closely as his father knotted the tie around his neck, trying to commit it to memory because he knew he wouldn’t be shown this again, and struggled not to flinch as it was tightened a little too snugly around his throat. As soon as his parents’ backs were turned, he tugged it just loose enough that he felt like he could breathe again, before following them out to the car._

…

…Maybe he could skip the tie for the day.

~* *~

The sudden commotion out in the lobby caught their attention. Curious, Alastar got up out of his chair to see what was going on, Cary close behind him. The first thing that caught his eye was Sirius’ unusually ‘relaxed’ appearance; the second was the group of seven robots behind him practically vibrating in excitement. His eyes went wide at the sudden shout of “SIRS!!” and braced himself as they rushed at him and Cary.

“Boys?!”

“What…” Cary started, too stunned to get any more words out.

“I know how you two operate,” Sirius said, smirking as the bots showered the two cops with enthusiastic affection. Cary had reflexively wrapped his arms around the one that had hugged him, in an attempt not to fall over. “You were going to work straight through the holidays, weren’t you?”

“Well…” Alastar hedged, and bit his lip.

“Thought so. So I got you some extra help. Consider having tomorrow off as my gift to you.”

The two brothers stared at him wordlessly as it sank in. It would be their first Christmas off in nine years. Alastar gave him a watery smile. “Just having our team back is a gift in itself. _Thank you_.”

Sirius cleared his throat, unable to hold their gazes any longer. “Right. Well. I’ll let you guys update them on their new duties. I don’t know what you two did to them, but they wouldn’t take it from _me_ when I tried to tell them the Master Builders are no longer a threat.” He rolled his eyes. Cary snickered.

As he left the station, Sirius wondered what he would do with himself for the rest of the day. He briefly considered popping by Benny’s apartment, but he didn’t want to accidentally spoil the surprise the spaceman was sure to get when Cary came home that evening. Visiting with Metalbeard was out of the question, as the pirate captain had left after the party the day before, intent on returning home. Not that he blamed him. Unikitty was also out, as he still had no clue where the new Cloud Cuckooland was (an oversight on her part, he was certain, as none of the others had been invited to it yet, either), or if she was even there. As much as she talked about her family, she may have returned home as well. He didn’t want to be a bother to Lucy and Emmet, who he was certain were enjoying the holiday, alone together, and he wasn’t close enough to Bruce to go all the way to Gotham.

He pulled out his phone and sent Rigel a text. As excited as he had been to discover he had a brother, it was… awkward, at the same time. The desire to be as close as the Callaghan triplets were, or Unikitty and her little brother, was there, it was the whole ‘getting to know you’ part that was throwing him off. Rigel seemed to be having an equally hard time reconciling him with the toddler he had last seen. “One step at a time,” he reminded himself.

Maybe they could do lunch.

~* *~

Benny glanced up as Cary finally trudged into their shared apartment, looking unusually contemplative. “Hey, B!” he greeted, and wormed his way out of his cocoon of blankets to bounce over and give the cop a kiss hello. “What kept you?”

“Getting the new recruits up to date on their duties for tomorrow.”

That gave Benny pause. “I didn’t know you were getting new officers.”

“Neither did I, until this morning.”

“Aww, and you’re making them work on _Christmas??_ You Scrooge!”

Cary chuckled. “It’s not quite what you think, Ben. They’re former Super Secret Police.”

“Ohh!” That was surprising; he hadn’t thought any of the bots were even still around. “I suppose that’s okay then. Are you guys going to do something nice for them when you get back, or will it not even matter to them? I mean they did seem to have a bit of personality, _I’d_ feel bad not doing something for them…”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Cary snorted. “They could be a handful sometimes. We’ll do something nice for them when the holidays are over.”

Benny smiled. “That’s good. So I have a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“Does your family do the Christmas Eve gift exchange?”

“As a matter of fact, we do.”

“Great!” Benny grinned, bouncing on his toes. “Cause I’ve got something I’ve been _dying_ to give you and I don’t think I can wait until tomorrow morning.” He practically dove for their little tree, grabbing a small box from the top of the pile and bouncing back to Cary, holding it out to him. “Merry Christmas, B.”

The cop took it, tearing off the paper, and pausing when he saw the Ray-Ban logo on the box. “I know that cheap pair you got after Halloween just hasn’t been cutting it,” Benny started babbling, “and as much as I love getting to see those gorgeous eyes of yours more often, you’re just not you without your trademark aviators, so I thought-”

Cary opened the box, and sure enough, a pair of aviator sunglasses, silver frames with silver mirrored lenses, rested inside. He leaned in close, cutting Benny off with a kiss. “Thank you.”

Benny beamed back at him. “You’re welcome.” He bit his lip, bouncing eagerly. “So where’s my gift?”

Cary laughed at him. “Patience, Ben. I’m getting there.” Instead of making his way toward the tree, though, he reached behind the couch. Benny tilted his head, staring in confusion as Cary pulled out a violin case.

“B??”

He didn’t answer, only flipped open the latched and pulled the instrument out. Benny’s eyes went wide as he touched the bow to the strings. “Oh wow, I didn’t know you could play-!” Cary quirked an eyebrow at him, and he fell silent, grinning and practically vibrating in excitement. He gasped as Cary began to play, quickly recognizing the tune as _All I Want For Christmas_. He clasped his hands together, pressing them to his mouth to keep from making any sound during his boyfriend’s performance.

Cary met his bright gaze when he finished the song. “Ben…?”

“That was…” He cleared his throat. “I take back what I said about saying stuff like a normal person. That was very sweet.” Cary smiled at him, and he finally launched himself at the officer, wrapping his arms around him. “Can we just- stay in bed all day tomorrow? Can that be one of my presents??”

Cary chuckled and kissed him. “Sounds like a plan.”

_“Yes!”_


	17. Out of Darkness

**Chapter Sixteen: Out Of Darkness**

Christmas morning arrived with little fanfare. His friends had all blown up his phone with a mass of “Merry Christmas!”es and “Happy Holidays!”, and he responded to each of them in kind, but afterwards they seemed to content to leave him in peace. Only Rigel had furthered their conversation, inviting him over to his apartment later that afternoon, if he was feeling so inclined. He decided he was, and said as much. He was going to use the opportunity of taking the morning to relax first, though, and take his time waking up for once.

He huffed to himself as, for the third day in a row, he failed to make his coffee quite the same way Alastar did, and found himself wishing his cop friend was there to make it for him. “…Alright, now you’re just behaving like a spoiled brat,” he scolded himself, and resigned himself to his not quite perfect coffee. At least he couldn’t mess up pouring himself a bowl of Cheerios.

So it was when Alastar let himself in roughly half an hour later that he found Sirius sitting at the breakfast bar still in his silk pajamas, slowly working his way through a mug of coffee and a bowl of cereal. Sirius froze, spoon halfway to his mouth, and then dropped it back into the bowl with a huff. “You could have let me know you were coming.”

“Ah, sorry, I just- I saw this in the headlines this morning and was so surprised I didn’t even think-” He turned his phone toward the President to show ‘Mysterious Donor Gifts Rare Convertible To Charity Auction’. Below that was a photo of an unmistakable red convertible.

“Ah,” Sirius said. “Yes. That. It needed to go.”

“I thought you loved that car…”

“I thought I did too,” Sirius admitted. “But it has too much… unpleasantness… attached to it, anymore.”

“Halloween?”

Sirius fought not to flinch. “That. And it’s _red_.”

Alastar looked confused. “Wasn’t that why you bought it in the first place?” Sirius gave him a withering glare. “Alright, alright, sorry. You’re allowed to change your mind, of course, it’s just- surprising, is all.” He sat on a stool next to his friend. “That was nice of you to donate it to that auction, though.”

“Seemed like a waste to just trash it,” Sirius muttered at his breakfast. “At least now someone else will get the chance to appreciate it. How in the world do you make coffee? I can’t seem to get it right.”

Alastar let out a startled laugh at the abrupt change of topic. “Oh, it’s just- a teaspoon of cinnamon in with the grounds, and a touch of vanilla. And I use raw sugar instead of white.” Sirius whined and slid his mug toward him. Alastar chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh, alright. But only because it’s Christmas.”

_“Thank you.”_

He watched in silence as Alastar poured out the first pot of coffee to start fresh, then checked the cupboards before conjuring his own ingredients from home and starting another pot. Even having witnessed his friend using magic before, it still surprised him to see Alastar using it so casually. “So if red’s not your favorite color anymore, what is?”

“You know, looking back on it, I don’t think red ever was actually my favorite color, I just had myself convinced it was, if that makes any sense?” Alastar nodded. “I have noticed lately that I’ve been leaning more towards, uh… blue…” He blinked, realizing how long he’d been holding Alastar’s gaze, and glanced away. “…Benny must be rubbing off on me.”

“Blue is a very nice color. I’ve read it’s the most popular favorite color, you know?”

“Just one more way for me to be _unspecial_, I suppose,” Sirius muttered.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that, Sir! Blue really is such a lovely color, and I’d say there’s good reason so many people prefer it! I know I can look up at the sky on a clear, sunny day, and feel happier.”

“I suppose,” the President sighed.

“And you’re _not_ ‘unspecial’,” Alastar argued. “Just because you’re not a Master Builder, that doesn’t mean you’re _worthless_. They’ve been pushing that propaganda for so long… And I’d like to see any one of them accomplish even _half_ of what you have.” Sirius’ gaze remained firmly fixed on the table. “What was it Emmet said? ‘You are the most talented, most interesting, most extraordinary person in the universe, and you are capable of _amazing_ things’.” He sucked in a sharp breath at that, daring to meet Alastar’s gaze again. “He meant it then, and I mean it now. And so what if not everything about you is absolutely, one hundred percent unique? Having something in common with others is what helps us connect. And maybe if the Master Builders hadn’t been trying so hard to be ‘unique’ and ‘different’ and ‘special’ they wouldn’t have needed someone like Emmet to take charge of their rebellion.” Sirius snorted, and Alastar smiled.

The coffee maker beeped then, pulling Alastar away, and Sirius rubbed at his face, turning back to his bowl of cereal. “…You really think all that?”

“I don’t just think it, Sir, I know it. Yeah a lot of the things you did were for ‘evil’ reasons, but they were still _impressive_.”

“You know I didn’t _want_ to be an evil overlord, at the start of it…”

“I am very aware of that. It’s why Cary and I came to you. You thought you were doing a good thing, and we thought you were doing a good thing- and you _were_\- and we wanted to help you achieve that.”

“Even though you were technically Master Builders yourselves?”

Alastar chuckled at his teasing tone. “It was _only_ a technicality. I’m just sorry the Ringmaster convinced you that all Master Builders were as bad as he was.” He set a fresh mug of coffee down in front of Sirius, who perked up considerably, then paused as he considered his friend’s words. Realization dawned on him.

“Alastar.”

“Hm?”

“What if… Halloween night _wasn’t_ the first time he got into my head?”

Blue eyes went wide. “_Oh_. You mean-?”

“The raid that night… I’m pretty sure he threw some sort of spell at me.” He focused on his coffee, unable to hold Alastar’s horrified gaze anymore, and took a sip. “I’m not saying I was under his control that entire time. Much as it would be nice to pin _all_ the blame on him, my decisions were my own and in no way forced. But it did feel, sometimes, like I had a shoulder demon or something to goad me on, whenever I was on the fence about something. Some insidious little voice telling me to go for it, no matter how horrific the action was. I haven’t heard it since Emmet held his hand out to me.”

Alastar sighed. “Because _of course_ he’d find a way to stir up trouble even _dead_. But at least that’s all over now.”

Sirius managed a smile. “You certainly made sure of that.”

“Darn right I did! I just hope Benny was right about not having to deal with any more like him.”

Sirius pulled a face. “Much as I hope we would only ever have to worry about _mundane_ problems from now on, I’m going to have to say that’s wishful thinking. You had to _burn out his ghost_ to finally put an end to his nonsense, who’s to say the rest of his species isn’t every bit as persistent?”

“…Maybe we should get in contact with Director Kenning when the holidays are over.” Alastar shook his head. “We’ve got time enough to worry about that later, though. Do you have any plans for today other than holing up in here all day?”

Sirius huffed at his teasing. “As a matter of fact, I _do_. Rigel invited me over to spend the afternoon with him.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Alastar said cheerfully. “I’m glad you two are getting to know each other.”

“What about you? You look like you’re headed somewhere, yourself.”

“Oh, yes, I’ll be heading to Mum and Dad’s after I leave here.”

“Just ‘I’, not ‘we’?”

“Oh heavens no, Cary’s enjoying his day alone with Benny.”

Sirius made a face at that thought. “Oh lord. I don’t blame you for making your retreat.” Alastar laughed.

~* *~

Lucy slowly rose to consciousness, feeling warm and comfortable and peaceful- something that was becoming a little more frequent these days, as her memories started to settle back into the background, cushioned by a distance of ten years and the proximity of one cuddly, supportive boyfriend. She smiled to herself and gently brushed Emmet’s bangs out of his face.

The peace didn’t last long, though. His brow furrowed, and he began mumbling incoherently. Lucy’s smile fell away as the mumbling turned into whimpers, and he began to twitch in his sleep. Fingers at first, then an arm, or a leg. While her own nightmares were letting up, his only seemed to increase in frequency and intensity. But whatever it was he dreamed about, it was gone the moment he opened his eyes.

“No,” he gasped, then slurred something that might have been a name. She couldn’t quite make out whose.

“Emmet,” she called softly, gently gripping his shoulder and giving it a shake. “Come on babe, wake up. It’s just a dream.” She smiled again at the resulting whine; that sounded a little more conscious. “It’s Christmas, remember?”

It was like a switch had been flipped. She giggled as his eyes snapped open, wide with unbridled excitement. “Oh!” he gasped. Lucy started laughing in earnest as Emmet thrashed about, trying to free himself from the covers before finally rolling off the mattress and landing on the floor with an “oof!”

“Babe, you alright?”

“I’m fine!” he assured, sitting up with a wide grin and a severe case of bedhead that had Lucy in a fresh fit of giggles. “Lucy it’s _Christmas!!_”

She crawled over to him and leaned over the edge of the bed to kiss him, heart fluttering at his enthusiastic response. “I’m aware, you goose. Why don’t you go ahead and start sorting, I’ll get coffee going.”

“Deal!” He shoved his feet into his slippers and scurried out to the living room. She took a moment to stretch before pulling on her robe and slippers and following him out. She shook her head to see him sitting in the middle of the living room floor, smile bright as his fingers flew over his phone’s screen, wishing their friends a merry Christmas.

Lucy allowed herself her own smile as she turned to get the coffee started, sending a silent, grateful prayer to The Man Upstairs that, whatever it was that Emmet dreamed about, it didn’t weigh him down in his waking hours.


	18. Seed

**Chapter Seventeen: Seed**

It was New Year’s Eve before Unikitty returned to Bricksburg, wearing a strange new necklace. It took her a while to find the group, as crowded as Assembly Square was, but she eventually caught a glimpse of Metalbeard’s hulking frame towering over the crowd and made her way over.

Benny was perched on Alastar’s shoulders, chattering a mile a minute as he ran his fingers through the cop’s hair, and she laughed. She recalled him having mentioned a few times before how he had always wanted to be there to see the ball drop live. Cape Space had a UFO they dropped at midnight, but Assembly Square was _the_ place to be on New Year’s Eve. And she could see why- they certainly made a huge deal out of it. There were stands selling hot chocolate and coffee, other vendors selling memorabilia, a stage with some popular musician performing, and what seemed like half the world’s population was crammed into the limited space.

Benny cheered when he spotted her approaching, and dropped down from his perch to greet her. “Where’s Bad Cop?” was the first thing she asked when her friend leaned down to hear her, having noticed he was the only one of their group that was missing.

“Oh, he’s around! He’s on duty tonight to make sure things don’t get too out of hand!” Benny grinned. “Like _that’ll_ stop me from getting my midnight smooch!” Unikitty laughed. “What’s with the necklace?”

“It’s for Keelan!” she chirped. “This is the heirloom I was telling you all about!”

“Ohh! Wow, that is neat! He didn’t come tonight, though.”

“Oh, I didn’t expect he would, this is definitely _way_ more people than he can handle. It’s okay though, I’m heading to see him tomorrow morning to give it to him!” She bounced in excitement. “I can’t wait to hear what he finds out!”

And she did just that. She decided not to go too early, just in case they had decided to sleep in, and was greeted by a thrilled Keelan. “Is that it?” he gasped, staring at the pendant around her neck.

“Uh huh!” she said, letting him take it off. It just barely fit in the palm of his hand, and it looked like some sort of gear or cog, its center made of a faintly glowing, translucent blue crystal.

“Wow…

“I know, right?” Unikitty bounced. “Puppycorn and I always thought it looked like a piece of some machine! And you don’t have to worry about breaking it- it survived us, after all,” she giggled, and Keelan laughed. “Be very careful not to lose it though, Mom and Dad would have my hide if it fell into the wrong hands.”

Keelan nodded. “I’ll- I’ll take very good care of it, I p-promise.”

~* *~

Sirius picked up his phone when it started buzzing, seeing he had an incoming video call. He froze when he saw who it was from, and took a deep breath to brace himself before hitting ‘answer’. “Keelan,” he greeted with surprise.

“Hi,” Keelan said, giving him a small smile and a wave.

“Why in the world are you calling _me?_”

“Unikitty brought me a-a thing! And- and I thought since, uh, since you know a lot about ancient stuff, maybe- um. Maybe you could help me f-figure out what it is?”

Sirius was intrigued now. “And what is this ‘thing’?” Keelan held it up as close to the camera as he could without it going out of focus. Now Sirius understood why he’d made a _video_ call- it certainly was a strange looking thing, better seen than described. “Huh,” he muttered, stumped. “Nothing about it looks familiar to me,” he admitted.

“Maybe there’s, um, s-something in one of your books?”

“I’ll look,” Sirius promised. “You’ve got me curious now, too.” Keelan smiled. “I’ll let you know when I find something. _If_ I find something. It might take me a while, I. Heh. I have a _lot_ of books.” Keelan laughed at that.

“That’s- that’s okay. I can wait. O-or maybe, um. I c-could come help…?”

Sirius raised his eyebrows at the offer, and leaned back in his chair as he mulled it over. Could he handle having Keelan in his home…? Feeling bold, he made his decision. “You know what, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. I can send Bobby to pick you up- not until after I’ve finished with work for the day, though.” Keelan nodded, excited at the prospect. “Alright, that’s a plan then. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah! See you!”

~* *~

Their first night of research got off to a rocky start. Sirius nearly went into a panic the moment Keelan stepped out of the elevator, causing the youngest Callaghan to flinch back himself and nearly turn right around and leave. Sirius brought himself back under control just in time to catch Keelan’s elbow as he was stepping back into the elevator. “Wait,” he said. “It’s fine, you just- caught me off guard, is all.”

“Oh… O-okay.”

“Come on and sit down, Edwin made snacks.”

In the end, their search turned up nothing, not even a single hint of what Unikitty’s odd heirloom might be. Sirius looked about as put out as Keelan felt. “Augh, I can’t believe it,” he whined. “How do I not have a single clue in my _entire collection_ as to what this thing is?!”

Keelan was thoughtfully silent.

Sirius sank back into the couch cushions, arms folded over his chest, and sulked for a solid minute before realizing his companion was oddly quiet, even for him. He peeked over. “…What’s on your mind?”

“Maybe… I should- should take it to Caesar.”

It took Sirius another minute to remember where he knew that name from. “Oh yeah, that guy Metalbeard complained about. I suppose if anyone would have an idea, it’s him. He’s the only person I’d ever heard of that even _claimed_ to have a lead on Atlantis.”

“I just- I just hope that Metalbeard’s okay with, um with taking me t-to see him… F-from what Cary and Benny have said, he’s not… very f-fond of him.”

“Yeah, I’ve gathered as much myself. He might make an exception in this case though. It’s shaping up to be quite the mystery.”


	19. Peace of Mind

**Chapter Eighteen: Peace of Mind**

An invitation to join them at The Coffee Chain had been extended to Risky, and he was eager to be included in their weekly ritual. He arrived with Sirius, and was somewhat surprised to find how crowded the back booth was, even with an extra table and chairs pulled up to it. He gave a startled look to the grumpy barista.

“We’re working on it,” Larry deadpanned.

“So that was nice of you to get those bots working again to help B out,” Benny mentioned as the two brothers finally joined them at the tables. “I didn’t know any of them were even still around, I thought they all got recycled.”

“Most of them did,” Sirius agreed as he squeezed in with them. Risky took a moment longer to find a spot, before Emmet scooched over just enough to let him in. “But those few didn’t have any debilitating damage, they pretty much just shut down when the TAKOS control room exploded. It felt like a waste to just toss them in the smelter with the rest, so I held onto them until I had an idea of what to actually _do_ with them. And then I did think of something, so I fixed them up.”

Lucy gave him an odd look. “You mean you took them to a repair shop, or something? I didn’t know there even was one around here that could do that.”

Sirius gave her an equally odd look in return. “No, I. Did it myself? I mean. I did kind of come up with the designs for them.”

Silence. _So_ much silence.

“Why are you all _looking_ at me like that? It’s not like _only_ Master Builders can build anything, I think Emmet and his construction crew are proof enough of that. And it was really just a matter of updating their systems to run independently of the control tower.” He hunched in on himself as they continued to stare.

“Well of course _anybody_ can build _with instructions_,” Lucy shot back. “But. You. _You designed_\- Augh. I can’t wrap my head around this.”

“I was wondering if that would ever come back out,” Risky mused. The dumbfounded stares were turned onto him then, Sirius’ included.

“What do you mean, ‘come back out’?”

Risky rolled his eyes. “One more thing he didn’t tell you. Of course.”

“What??”

“If it hadn’t been for Arthur’s _absolute refusal_ to believe that the Business family line could produce such a person, Sirius could have made a _remarkable_ Master Builder. As it was, once Siri started showing traits for it, Arthur stomped them out pretty hard.”

“Did- did you just call me _Siri_-”

“Ah, sorry, old habits-”

“Wait wait wait,” Benny interrupted. “Are you seriously telling us that this guy right here, who was so hellbent on stopping Master Builders he was ready to _end the entire world over it_, is one of us??”

“I’m not telling you that he _is_, just that he _could have been_,” Risky clarified, then turned to his younger brother with a considering look. “And possibly still has that potential.”

“You know, I wonder. If it hadn’t been for your father being a grade A asshat, how differently _everything_ could have turned out,” Alastar mused. Risky snorted into his coffee at the sound of the normally sweet and mild mannered cop swearing, nearly choking on his laughter.

“I think my brain just imploded,” Lucy muttered. Emmet gave her a gentle squeeze.

“It is a lot to take in,” Unikitty agreed.

“How do you all think _I_ feel to have this- this bombshell dropped on me? I always thought…” He stood abruptly. “I need some air.”

“Sir?” Alastar said, concerned when Sirius briskly walked out without another word. He got to his feet, grabbing his own cup and the President’s before following him out.

“_Sit down_,” Cary growled when the others moved to get up as well. “Give him some space. He’s got Alastar with him, he’ll be _fine_.”

~* *~

Sirius hadn’t made it very far down the sidewalk before he had stopped, making it easy for Alastar to catch up. “You forgot your coffee,” he said, handing it over. Sirius accepted it without a word. They stood in silence for a few minutes, ignoring the odd stares they got from the few passers-by out in the cold, before finally,

“On one hand, I guess that explains why I’ve… always felt _fear_, when it came to dealing with Master Builders. And envy. Like. Something was missing. I always thought it was… I wanted that validation, that acknowledgement. You know, ‘look what I can do despite not being the least bit special’. But maybe deep down it was because I knew that- that ‘special something’ got _taken away_ from me. And it wasn’t fair. So I wanted to take that away from everyone else, keep them from ever _finding_ it.” He stared down into his coffee. “But on the other hand, I’m not sure how much of that I believe. I don’t _think_ Rigel would have any reason to lie to me, and I trust Emmet’s judgment, I do, but I’ve also only known him for, what. Almost two weeks?” He heaved a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to think about all this, my head feels like such a mess right now.”

“Then don’t think. How did it _feel_, when you were working on the bots?”

“It felt… like…” He trailed off for a moment. Alastar knew that look; it was the look of someone who had finally found a part of themselves that had been missing for far too long. “…like I really don’t want to talk about this right now,” he finished with a huff.

“Fair enough,” Alastar allowed. “You want to go back inside, or do you still need some time? Do you want me to stay, walk with you wherever?”

“Walk with me, it’s about time I got back to the Tower anyway.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The walk to Octan Tower wasn’t too long (whether that was by design or just happy coincidence, Sirius refused to say), and spent in silence. He worried about the President’s state of mind; that had been quite the bombshell Risky had dropped on them. Something had obviously clicked, but he was doing that bottling thing again. Alastar just hoped he would open up about it after he’d had enough time to process it. As they reached the lobby, Sirius glanced back at him, and rolled his eyes. “Oh would you _stop_ fussing? I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. Don’t you have a job to get to?”

Alastar held back a sigh. Well, if he was getting snippy, maybe he _would_ be fine after all. “Yes, Sir.”


	20. Who Made Who

**Chapter Nineteen: Who Made Who**

He felt like hell when he woke the next morning, and for once it wasn’t because of nightmares. There was no cruel laughter, no malicious glowing green eyes, no icy fingers digging into his ribcage to haunt his sleep.

Mostly because he didn’t even get to sleep.

His thoughts whirled through his head as he laid in bed, wide awake, all night. He hadn’t been willing to believe Rigel’s words, but the more he thought about it, the more he could remember, if only very vaguely. A constant need to get his hands on things, take them apart, figure them out…

When his alarm went off at six in the morning, he shoved himself out of bed with a growl, barking at Edwin to get the coffee started while he got a shower. It didn’t do much to soothe his nerves. He forced himself through his usual morning routine; he’d been lazy about it for long enough, and his friends were starting to notice. Alastar had been giving him odd side glances since he’d shown up at the precinct Christmas Eve morning, tie-less and hair barely combed. “Time to pull yourself back together,” he muttered, scowling at his reflection.

Every muscle in his body tensed, and the air felt stolen from his lungs as he found himself staring at a face he hadn’t seen in twenty years.

_You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? Just had to go and destroy all my hard work-_

His fist flew out before he could even register the motion.

~* *~

Ultimately, he could not claim he was at all surprised when Edwin called him in the morning, stating that Sirius had attacked his bathroom mirror and was currently getting sewn back together. It was only in retrospect that he realized Sirius had been avoiding his reflection, and any other images of himself, for some time now, when he used to take any opportunity he could to preen. No wonder his appearance hadn’t been as pristine as usual lately. Cary gave him a Look; he’d only overheard Alastar’s end of the conversation, but he could feel his brother’s dismay clear as day. “Go get the idiot sorted out,” he sighed. “I’ve got this.”

“You’re a peach,” Alastar told him, grinning at the wave of annoyance and affection as he got to his feet. Thankfully Bricksburg still ran like clockwork, and he had just missed the rush hour traffic, reaching the Tower in a matter of minutes.

The elevator ride up to Sirius’ penthouse felt like an eternity.

The President gave him a startled look when he stepped into the living room, then turned a scowl onto his butler. “You _called_ him?”

“He asked me to keep him updated on your well-being, sir.”

“I did,” Alastar confirmed, and sighed softly when he caught sight of Sirius’ bandaged hand. “Why didn’t you _say_ anything?”

“It’s noth-”

“It’s _not_ ‘nothing’ if you’re going around punching mirrors,” Alastar cut him off. “Try again.”

Sirius sank into the couch cushions, winding his fingers into his curls. Alastar had never seem him look so small, not even when he was lying battered and bruised in a hospital bed. “So much has been changing… ever since the expedition, but especially the last couple months. The whole world’s been turned upside down around me… or- or maybe_ I_ have? I don’t know. I feel like I don’t know who I _am_ anymore, I just know who I see in the mirror isn’t me. And today… today I saw Arthur Business, and I just… reacted.”

Alastar grabbed his wrist and gently pulled his hand away before he started pulling his hair out. “You… are Sirius Aaron Business, President of the Octan Corporation and of Bricksburg, history enthusiast, relic hunter, and my best friend, but also an _idiot_.” Sirius gave him an affronted look at that. “If you don’t like who you see in the mirror, it makes sense to change that, don’t you think?” He took Sirius’ other wrist, holding up his bandaged hand. “It’s better than needing a handful of stitches.”

Sirius yanked his hands back, frowning. “What if you’re wrong, though?” he asked. “What if I don’t want to be who you say I am, anymore?” Alastar raised his eyebrows at that, but remained silent. “What if… what if I don’t want to be President anymore? Of Octan, or of Bricksburg?”

The cop sat beside him, thoughtfully silent. “What prompted this?” he finally asked after a minute.

Sirius snorted, leaning against him. “I’d been raised to take over the company from the day I was born. Even after my parents’ sudden death, I was so conditioned for it, I never gave a second thought to taking over. It was just _expected_ of me. And I did it so well, I thought, _this_ is what I’m meant for, to be in charge of things. And people seemed to like that I was stepping up to the plate to take on the whole ‘Master Builder problem’, so it just felt like a natural progression.” He sighed softly. “And even though I enjoyed relic hunting, it didn’t feel… special enough, I guess. Like if I chose that path, I wouldn’t get the attention and recognition I wanted. People didn’t notice me for _that_.”

He fell silent for a while after that. Alastar waited patiently. “And then we went on that expedition to get you back, and I realized… I _enjoyed_ the break from being in charge of everything. It was liberating, to not be constantly in control, and the chaos was… even kind of _fun_. We didn’t have a lot on the Sea Cow- I didn’t even have my own room, I had to share with Emmet- but it made me realize I don’t really _need_ a lot, like I had been raised to believe. And I’ve realized that being friends with our small group has meant so much more to me than being ‘loved’ by the whole world. And that you get so much more enjoyment out of life following your passions, than just sticking with what’s ‘safe’. And then what Rigel said yesterday _really_ threw me for a loop…” Alastar chuckled softly at that. “And it’s all made me wonder- who really is Sirius Business? I mean I’ve been wondering that for a long time now, even since I moved into the penthouse, really, but ever since yesterday morning it’s _really_ been bothering me. Everything I thought I knew about myself has been just pulled out from under me. And I guess you’re right, I really _am_ an idiot if it’s taken me this long to realize I don’t have to be who my father wanted me to be.” He startled when Alastar wrapped his arms around him.

“At least you realized it at all,” the cop said. “If you really are thinking about stepping down, you know we’ll be behind you every step of the way. We’ll help you with setting up elections, or finding someone suitable to take over the company, whatever you need. But for now, how about we work on the more immediately fixable issue?”

“What?”

“You’re right about one thing, you have been emulating Arthur Business for far too long, right down to his style.” Alastar grinned. “What do you say we give Lucy a call?”

_“…What.”_


	21. Sharp Dressed Man

**Chapter Twenty: Sharp Dressed Man**

While his bathroom mirror was getting replaced, Alastar dragged Sirius to his apartment building to meet up with Lucy. “So what’s the plan?” he asked as she walked up to them. “And what’s the bag for?”

“Later. Shopping first,” she said with a smirk. “We need to get you a new wardrobe. I’ve been wondering- do you have like an entire closet full of the exact same suit, or just one that Edwin cleans for you every night? Because I don’t think I have _ever_ seen you wear anything else.”

“I have three,” Sirius sulked at her, folding his arms across his chest. “That’s a perfectly reasonable amount.”

“Well that’s three too many, now. The gray does look good on you, so I think we’ll stick with that, but maybe go for a lighter shade of it. And we’re _definitely_ trying other colors. No more red ties.” She didn’t miss the way he seemed to relax at that, but he still gave her a skeptical look. “Hey. Trust me, okay? Maybe we’ll goof around a bit, but I won’t let you leave with anything that doesn’t make you look _amazing_.” Lucy smirked. “And I have some _great_ ideas already.”

“I’m not sure I like that look.”

“Relax, it’ll be fine! Let’s hit downtown.”

The ride to the shops was spent in silence, with Sirius lost in thought wondering what sort of ideas Lucy had. Given her own personal style, he feared it might wind up being something outrageous. Though he had to admit, her “wild style” certainly suited her. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

_Maybe I shouldn’t underestimate her_, he thought as she had Bobby stop at the higher end stores. She all but dragged him into the closest one, a very amused Alastar following them at a more sedate pace. It was the same tailor he had bought his suits from. “Ah, President Business! Welcome! Finding yourself in need of another suit? Or perhaps treating your friends here?” The tailor raised an eyebrow at said friends, and Sirius almost laughed. They did stick out like a pair of sore thumbs, with Lucy’s favorite track suit and Alastar’s uniform.

“Oh no, we’re here for him,” Lucy answered. “He is in need of some new suits, but not his usual.” She glanced around at the mannequins, and grinned as she apparently found something she liked. “Something more like this, actually.” Sirius turned to see what she was pointing out, and paused. Instead of a two-piece suit, she had picked out a vest.

“Oh,” he said, and she smirked at his approving tone.

“Told you.” She turned back to the tailor. “We’ll take two of these in light gray, and make one of the vests pinstriped.” As the pair bickered over details (what material do you want it in? What style of lapels would you like, if any? Single breasted or double? How do you want the pockets finished?), Alastar wandered around to have his own look. The price tags were well outside anything he felt comfortable with spending, but the suits certainly looked well worth the cost.

Apparently having gotten the details sorted out, Lucy walked up to his side as Sirius was taken to the back to have his measurements taken. “Thinking about getting a suit for yourself?” she teased. Alastar looked at her over the rims of his glasses, and held up one of the tags. She winced. “Yeah, glad I’m not the one footing this bill. Ugh. You’d look pretty sharp in one though, I bet.”

“Maybe, if I ever have reason to wear one. My dress uniform actually works pretty well for most formal occasions.” She laughed at him. “Any estimate on how long it’ll take for his new suits to be done?”

“About four weeks, and that’s _with_ a rush put on it. So whenever he’s done, we’re going to see if we can’t find something on the racks that’ll fit him well enough in the meantime. I mean, this is all _really_ good quality stuff as it is.” She turned when Alastar’s focus shifted. “That didn’t take long.”

“Nah,” Sirius agreed. “So what’s next on the agenda?”

“Finding something on the racks that’ll fit you. And some shirts to go with it. In something _other_ than white, I’m sure you have plenty of those,” she teased. Alastar laughed as Sirius stuck his tongue out at her. Lucy grinned. “Real mature. Anyway, I’m thinking cool colors would look better on you. Come on.” She dragged him around until they found a vest and pants similar enough to what was getting made for him, and enlisted his help in finding the right size. They browsed around for a while, comparing colors and patterns (Sirius had protested _loudly_ when Lucy picked out something wildly floral patterned and held it up to him like she was seriously considering it before her resolve cracked and she doubled over laughing. It prompted a brief but ridiculous game of ‘find the most outrageous thing in the store for Sirius to try on’) before finally grabbing three shirts and three ties- one each in green, blue, and purple- and leaving the shop.

“Not going to let me try them on first?” Sirius complained.

“I don’t want to ruin the big reveal- I want it to be as much a surprise to you as it will everyone else.”

“Oh, fine,” he sighed. “So now what?”

“Burgers, and then back to your place.”

“Burgers??”

“I have a mighty need for greasy fast food right now.” Sirius made a face. “Hey, don’t even. I’ve seen how you put away pizza.” Alastar laughed as the two of them bickered.

“Ohh, alright, we’ll get burgers.”

“And fries.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

They stopped by Lucy’s favorite fast food restaurant to pick up some burgers and fries (and a chocolate frosty for her to dip said fries in, much to Sirius’ disgust) before returning to the Tower. Lucy grabbed her bag from where she had tucked it under the seat, and they made their way up to Sirius’ penthouse to eat lunch. The mirror had been expertly replaced, and the only evidence left that it had shattered was Sirius’ hand.

“Why don’t you take your stuff back to the bathroom?” Lucy asked once they had finished eating. “Go ahead and put them on, if you want, but don’t peek!”

“If you say so,” Sirius said, taking his new clothes back to his bedroom. Lucy gave Alastar an expectant look.

“Yes?”

“Benny mentioned once that he wears reading glasses. Do you know where he keeps them?”

Alastar tilted his head as he considered her question. “Either on the desk in his office, or the coffee table.” He nodded toward the living room. “Why?”

“Cause Benny also mentioned he looks really good with them on.” Lucy grinned, and Alastar laughed. “Wait here, we’ll come out when he’s ready.”

“Yes ma’am.” Lucy got up and grabbed the glasses case off the coffee table before following Sirius to the back.

“Are you decent?” she called, and Alastar snickered. He grabbed her half eaten frosty and finished it himself while he waited. There was a few minutes of muffled bickering and fussing, and then quiet murmuring. Though he was very curious to know what they were talking about, he stayed put as requested.

~* *~

“There,” Lucy said, placing his glasses on his face and taking a step back. “What do you think?”

Sirius turned to face the mirror, and stared. “Oh,” he said. “That is a _very_ different person.”

Lucy smirked, folding her arms across her chest. “Am I good, or what?” Sirius laughed. She relaxed her stance. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Yes?” He met her gaze in the mirror.

“After what Risky said yesterday… If any of us were to offer to train you, would you want that?”

He paused in his preening, thoughtfully silent. “I don’t know,” he finally said after a minute.

Lucy nodded. “Take some time to think about it. I promise I won’t be offended if you say no. Think you’re ready for an audience?”

“You know, the ‘big reveal’ would be more fun if _everyone_ was here.”

Lucy grinned. “You can surprise everyone else next week. For now, Alastar’s our trial run.” She left the bathroom, Sirius walking along behind her. Alastar was absorbed in something on his phone, so she cleared her throat to get his attention. He glanced up at them.

And froze.

He could only stare in stunned silence as he took in the sight before him. Just from his body language, Alastar could tell Sirius already felt much more at ease with himself, and that alone was a huge improvement. They had chosen the lilac shirt and purple tie to go with the light gray vest and pants they had picked out, which worked surprisingly well together. Lucy had styled his hair to emphasize his curls rather than trying to tame them, and had even gone after his unibrow, plucking and shaping it into two separate eyebrows (probably what the fighting was about, he thought with some amusement). The glasses added just the right touch to a look that suited him well.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. “What, is it that bad?”

“No!” Alastar hurried to get out. Lucy bit the inside of her cheek to keep a straight face. “It’s just…” He cleared his throat. “_Whoa_.” She finally gave up the battle and started laughing, and Sirius grinned.

“Oh, Man Upstairs, the look on your face!” Lucy giggled. “That was perfect, I wish I’d gotten a picture. I bet everyone else is going to be just as speechless.”


	22. Separate Ways

**Chapter Twenty-One: Separate Ways**

After receiving multiple assurance that “yes, I’ll be _fine_, go away already,” Alastar offered Lucy a ride back to his apartment building so she could get her bike. She accepted the ride too readily for comfort, and his suspicions were confirmed by the smug look she gave him once they were alone in the cruiser.

“So I totally didn’t miss that _look_ you gave him,” she said. He stared steadily ahead. “You’ve got a thing for him, don’t you?”

“Whether I do or not, it doesn’t matter because it would never go anywhere anyway. I had that figured out the first week we knew him.”

That surprised her into silence, if only briefly. “…That long? Oh, Alastar…”

He bit his lip. “Not the whole time,” he admitted. “I got over it. And then Lord Business happened, and I questioned my sanity _many_ times during those eight and a half years.” Lucy giggled a bit at that. “Then there was that ‘meeting’ in the Relic Chamber, and for a while I _hated_ him, for what he’d done to me, and to Cary… He _knew_ perfectly well what he was doing, when he erased me. But then…”

“Then you saw what we went through, what _he_ went through, to bring you back,” she guessed.

“Even before the whole Lord Business fiasco, he never would have taken the time to make sure I was okay, like he did Halloween night. That was… something new.” He pulled into the parking lot and parked the car. “Don’t say anything to him about it, please. It’s enough that he considers me his best friend, I really don’t want things to get awkward between us. And I’ll get over it again, in time.”

Lucy chewed her lip thoughtfully, then leaned over to hug him. “Cary said you always seemed to have rotten luck with that… For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

He hugged her back. “Thanks, but I’ll be okay. This is hardly the first time I’ve gone through this.”

“It’s still not fair to you,” she argued.

“It’s not,” he agreed, “but not everything in life _is_ fair. Sometimes we just have to settle for what we get.”

“Sometimes,” Lucy murmured, staring down at her hands. “…But then, sometimes, what seems unfair at first actually turns out for the better.”

Alastar smiled at her determined look. “Sometimes. We’ll see.” He leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead. “Now shoo, I’ve got to get back before Cary snaps.”

“You guys are still having separation issues?”

Alastar laughed at that. “’Still’? Lucy, it’s only been two months.”

“…Feels like it’s been longer than that.”

“That it does,” he sighed. “Well, we are doing better, but we still have our limits. You can’t really move past thirty-seven years of coexistence in just a few weeks.”

“…Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, that was a dumb question, wasn’t it?”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Maybe, but that you asked it at all shows that you care.” She smiled back at him before popping open the door.

“See you at Larry’s?”

“If not sooner.” He waved goodbye as she climbed out and made her way over to where her motorcycle was parked. He drove back to the station, unsurprised to find his brother waiting at the door for him.

“Idiot,” Cary sighed at him, pulling him close. “I thought you’d learned your lesson after last time.”

“I thought I did too,” Alastar said miserably, and leaned into the embrace. “Guess I was wrong.”

~* *~

After finally managing to shoo the pair away (honestly, Alastar could be overbearing with his fussing, when he was worried), Sirius made a beeline straight for the bathroom again. He had briefly (_very_ briefly) debated heading down to his office to try to get at least some work done, after wasting most of the day getting patched up and dragged around town, but decided against it. There was no way he would be able to focus right now, not when he was still trying to wrap his head around his new reflection.

Lucy had really outdone herself. Sirius couldn’t remember the last time he’d been unable to tear his gaze away from the mirror. Probably never. Arthur had taught him the importance of appearance, and Sirius had always taken every opportunity to make sure his was absolutely _perfect_, but he had never once given thought to what his own personal style might look like. After all, _everyone_ wore two-piece suits when they wanted to look Important and Professional, right?

But Lucy had somehow managed to absolutely _nail_ it when he himself had no idea what he might actually like that would look good on him. He supposed it came from her years of experimenting with her own identity. Of course she would _get it_. He was just grateful she hadn’t made any ‘mid-life crisis’ jokes about it; didn’t people normally go through this in their teens? Ah well, better late than never, he supposed. Although he would probably let the unibrow grow back out- that was one thing about himself he had never once considered a ‘flaw’, though it seemed many others did. He rubbed the bare patch between his now separate eyebrows with a petulant frown.

The glasses were a nice touch though, the cherry on the sundae. He had always thought having to wear his reading glasses just made him look old, but- Alastar _always_ wore his, and Sirius had never once thought they detracted from his appearance. They suited him as much as they softened him. And then there was that comment Benny had made, during the expedition… It was the first time anyone had ever told him that. And judging from the look Alastar had given him, Benny wasn’t the only one who appreciated them.

The thought made him feel strangely warm.

With a sigh he popped open the medicine cabinet and swallowed down some painkillers. With the glass removed and the cuts cleaned and stitched closed, the sharp, searing pain had turned into more of a dull throb, but his hand was really starting to hurt again. Even despite that, though, he was feeling unusually relaxed.

…Maybe a nap was in order. He might actually sleep undisturbed, for once.


	23. Super Cool

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Super Cool**

His entrance into The Coffee Chain was met with open stares and murmurs of approval- not just from his group of friends, but from several of the other patrons as well. Unikitty squealed and bounced. “It’s _you!_” she cheered.

“Damn, Busy,” Benny cackled at his pleased grin. “Sure you’re not part peacock?”

“Woooow,” Emmet gasped. “You were right Lucy, it really _does_ suit him! Why the drastic change, though?”

“Ah well, you know, it’s a new year, and I’m a new me, I figured I should start _looking_ the part.” Lucy smirked into her coffee, but remained silent on the matter.

Emmet grinned. “I really like it.”

“I may have to enlist your talent myself,” Risky mused, eyeing Sirius with some envy.

“As long as you can afford the price tag that went with that look, sure,” Lucy agreed.

“I bet you’d look _smoking_ in a vest,” Benny purred, grinning as Cary’s face darkened.

“Ben, not in front of everyone else…” The spaceman snickered and snuggled closer to him.

“Has there been any word from Keelan since he and Metalbeard left?” Sirius asked.

“Oh yeah, he’s been messaging us every day.” Alastar grinned. “Seems he’s made some new friends already.”

“Is that so?”

“A young lady and her very small crew apparently attempted to commandeer the Wayfarer, about scared the life out of him,” Cary explained. “Turned out Metalbeard knows them pretty well, and it’s something of a game between them. They got the surprise of their lives when Wayfarer defended herself, though.” Cary smirked at that, and Benny snickered. “He told us they’re off to find some place called Bath-El.”

Sirius stared at them. “…That’s not another one of Caesar’s tricks, is it?”

“Not likely. Metalbeard verified its legitimacy, and I doubt someone like Calypso del Mar would be off chasing a mere myth.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME KEELAN MET _CALYPSO DEL MAR?!_”

Risky reeled back in shock as the others laughed. “I take it you’re a fan?”

Sirius slumped in his seat, folding his arms across his chest. “That is _so_ not fair.”

“Who is she, anyway? That name’s not familiar to me.”

“It probably wouldn’t be, if you don’t have much interest in archeology,” Alastar said. “Have you at least heard of Professor Henry Jones?”

“You mean _Indiana_ Jones? Who _hasn’t?_”

“Miss del Mar was one of his absolute best students,” Sirius continued, “and is quite the adventurer. She’s pretty new to the scene, being so young, but already making a name for herself. If it hadn’t been set up so that _only_ a team of Master Builders could have rediscovered Atlantis, she probably would have beat us to it. As it is, they say she’s found the lost island of Chima, and regularly treks into the Forest of Obsolete Products.”

“You’ve got stars in your eyes,” Lucy teased. Sirius cleared his throat and took a sip of his coffee.

“You’re, uh. Very passionate about this subject, aren’t you?”

“You should show him your collection, Busy,” Benny suggested, grinning.

“Wait- you have a _collection?_”

“Studied and tracked them down and retrieved them all myself,” Sirius answered, with no small hint of pride.

“_Wow_.”

“I miss it,” he sighed. “Wish I could have gone with them…”

“We can ask Kee’ to keep you updated as well?” Alastar offered.

“You know, I think I’d like that, actually. Thank you.”

Alastar smiled. “No problem.”

~* *~

Risky was practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of seeing Sirius’ relic collection, as they made their way to the Tower. “What?” Sirius laughed.

“I just can’t get over _how cool_ my little brother is,” he answered, and Sirius grinned. “I mean, inventor? President of the world _and_ its largest corporation, _and_ an explorer on top of all that? Just how smart _are_ you?”

Sirius shrugged. “Never thought about it, honestly.”

“Man, and I’m not even half as interesting,” Risky lamented.

“How is running an amusement park not interesting?”

Risky’s shoulders slumped. “I was defeated by my own ineptitude.”

“To be fair, _nobody_ really stands a chance against Emmet. He got the best of Benny once, too.” Risky let out a startled laugh at that.

“_Benny?_ That’s hard to imagine.”

“It was kind of a tense time for everyone…”

“The Atlantis thing?” Sirius nodded. Risky grinned. “Alastar must mean a lot to you, to go to such lengths to bring him back.”

Sirius gave him a confused look. “Well I mean he’s become my best friend since, but I really was just trying to right a wrong I’d committed…”

“So you two _aren’t_ together.”

Sirius choked on his coffee. “Where in the world did you get _that_ idea?” he coughed out.

“Well, he dotes on you-”

“He _fusses_, and he does it to everyone. Give it time and he’ll start fussing over you too. He’s such a mother hen.”

“And you’re always spending time with him.”

“Again, _best friend_, of course I prefer his company-”

“And I don’t know, you both always just seem so happy when you’re around each other.”

Sirius sighed, rubbing at his face. “Obviously I can’t speak for him, but I’m just happy I have friends at all. That’s a luxury I never had before.”

“Not even as a kid??”

“The others all thought I was too weird, or were just trying to get close to me cause I grew up rich. I knew they didn’t really care, they were just hoping to get spoiled by extension.”

Risky rubbed the back of his neck. “Wow. Even I had a couple pals back then, they really helped me out when Arthur disowned me…” He completely deflated. “Gosh, I wish I’d known that. I would have come to you sooner if I had, so you wouldn’t have had to be so _alone_.”

“I try not to dwell on all the ‘what if’s, it’s too depressing.”

“I hear that.”

“But hey, at least we’re here now.”

“Oh.” He glanced up at the building before them. “So we are.”

Sirius grinned at him. “I hope you don’t get bored easily, I’ve been known to talk about my collection for _hours_.”

Risky laughed. “Actually? I look forward to it.”


	24. Get Myself To Saturday

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Get Myself To Saturday**

Though Sirius had been so ready to share his interests, and Rigel certainly seemed enthusiastic to learn about them, trying to find out _his_ hobbies and interests was like pulling teeth. He truly believed himself to be that boring, and Sirius found it rather sad. But through equal measures of persistence and patience, he slowly learned that Rigel enjoyed classical music, bowling, and card games, and had a small collection of parakeets, antique maps, and rocks, ranging from precious stones to random pebbles he’d picked up from various destinations he had visited. The pride and joy of his collection, though, was a chunk of labradorite- it looked a boring, dull gray, sitting on the shelf, but when he picked it up and held it to the light, it practically glowed in bright blue and gold.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t see the irony in that?” he teased, and Rigel gave him a sheepish grin.

“I guess…” He set the stone back on its shelf. “I don’t think any amount of light is ever going to make me more fascinating though.”

“Why do you keep _saying_ that?”

Rigel shrugged. “It’s the only reason I can think of, why everyone winds up abandoning me.”

Sirius was horrified. “What do you mean?”

“Arthur and Maggie, my pals, my wife…” He fell silent after that.

“You were married?”

“For about a year. It was a long time ago.”

For an uncomfortably long time, the only sound in Rigel’s flat was the singing of his birds. Sirius finally huffed out a laugh. “Aren’t we a sorry pair?” Rigel gave him a lopsided grin. “For the record, now that I’ve found you I have _no_ intention of giving you up.”

“I wish I could believe you.”

“Well you must have _some_ hope that we’ll actually stick around, else _you_ wouldn’t.”

“I… suppose that’s true,” Rigel mused. “And I’m so tired of being alone…”

“I just hope you’re prepared to get smothered, Alastar’s not the only one who fusses.” He stepped closer to one of the framed maps hanging on the wall, leaning in for a better look. “Emmet and Benny have both had experiences like yours, and Unikitty just hates for anyone to be sad.” He yelped when a flutter of bright yellow and green suddenly appeared in his peripheral, jerking away from it, and Rigel laughed.

“Sorry, I should have warned you I was taking them out. Tiki likes people.”

“Yes, hello,” Sirius muttered at the bird that had alighted on the back of the sofa and was squawking indignantly at him. He bit his lip and reached out, palm up, eyes widening in wonder when the small bird hopped into his hand without the least bit of hesitation and bounced the rest of the way up his arm to his shoulder. “…You know, I’ve never had any pets.” He snickered when Tiki started nibbling at his hair. “That tickles.”

“I’m usually the only person he does that to,” Rigel commented, watching curiously.

“Must be because we look so much alike.”

Rigel smirked. “Not like we haven’t been confused for each other before. Tiki, come here, you silly thing.” He held his hand out, and the parakeet flew back to him. “Give Daddy a kiss?” Sirius grinned when the bird leaned close to Rigel’s nose and made a smooching sound.

“That is adorable.”

“He’s my spoiled little baby, and he’s smart as a whip. I can only assume he learned that from one of my sitters, I certainly didn’t teach it to him.”

“Are the others friendly?”

“Oh, sure. They’re not quite as outgoing as Tiki, but they’ll let you pet them if you want.”

“How do you keep them so socialized?”

“There’s a few kids that live on this floor, and when they heard them singing, they asked if they could see my birds. They look after them for me sometimes.”

“The aforementioned ‘sitters’?” Rigel nodded.

“There’s one little girl that likes to make jewelry from their feathers, so I let her keep any shed ones she finds. She comes up with some interesting stuff, and I’ve seen her wearing an ear cuff with them on it before.” Sirius chuckled at the mental image. “Tiki and Cirrus are expecting another brood, I’ve been negotiating with her parents about adopting a couple of the babies when they’re big enough.”

“…Maybe I could have one?”

Rigel gave him a surprised look. “You’d- you’d really want them?”

“Sure. They’re cute, and they sing beautifully.”

“Okay, sure. On two conditions.”

“What’s that?”

“One- you come by every day to help me feed them, that way they’ll be used to you right from the start. Two- you take _two_ of them, they’re social birds.”

“Oh.” He mulled it over for a minute. “Alright, deal.”

Rigel grinned brightly at him. “Great! I’ll text you when they hatch.”

~* *~

“Alright, I’m sick of the moping.”

Benny startled, giving the cop a wary stare as he growled. “Uh. Okay? I wasn’t aware that I was…”

Cary sighed. “Not you, Ben. My idiot brother.”

“Oh. Oh no, what’s wrong with Alastar?? Why’s _he_ moping?”

“Turns out he’s not as over one of his old flames as he thought he was.”

“Aww,” Benny pouted. “That’s sad. Was it a bad breakup?”

Cary snorted as he got to his feet. “Something like that.”

“Are we going to cheer him up?” Benny reached for him, and Cary took his hand, pulling him up off the couch. The cop smirked.

“Something like that,” he said again.

“Hey, no smacking him around allowed,” Benny warned, squeezing his hand.

“What makes you think I would?”

Benny started laughing. “Okay, no. Stick to scowling, B, you’re no good at the ‘innocent puppy eyes’ look.” Cary chuckled and led him across the hall, letting them into Alastar’s apartment. (And boy, was it strange that he already no longer thought of it as _his_ as well.) Alastar sat at his keyboard, poking random keys and honestly looking more like he was lost in thought than feeling sad, but Benny trusted Cary’s judgment. “Hey, G,” he said, waving when the cop glanced up at them. Alastar sighed.

“Figured you’d be coming to tell me to knock it off at some point. Didn’t mean to make a nuisance of myself.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” Benny huffed at him. “Though I’m certain that’s what B was thinking of doing.”

“Excuse you,” Cary grunted. Alastar chuckled softly.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” Alastar muttered, fingers finally tapping out something a little less discordant.

“Do you _really_ not want to talk about it, or do you just not want to talk about it with your brother around?” Alastar glanced back up at Benny’s teasing tone, just in time to see Cary rolling his eyes.

“Hit that nail right on the head,” Cary said, and leaned over to press a kiss to Benny’s curls. “Alright, I’ll go mind my own business for a while.” He reached over, gently squeezing Alastar’s shoulder before letting himself out. Alastar allowed himself a small smile at the gesture.

“Alright.” Benny drifted off the floor and settled himself on the back of the couch. “Spill.” Alastar didn’t answer for a while, instead playing on in silence. Benny wasn’t familiar with the tune, but thought it beautiful, if haunting. He waited patiently. If there was one thing he had learned about the brothers, it was that, for all their glaringly obvious differences, they shared a lot of similarities as well, and even Alastar sometimes needed time to get his thoughts in order.

“About ten years ago, we met a guy. It quickly became pretty apparent that he wasn’t used to letting people close, but we got along well enough, started to think of him as a friend. The more we learned about him, the more fascinating we found him.”

“And you were interested in him in other ways too, I’m guessing.” Alastar nodded. “And he wasn’t into guys?”

“He wasn’t into _anyone_, period.”

“Kind of like Barbara and Unikitty?”

“Exactly like them.”

“So there was no breakup…”

Alastar smiled sadly. “Not in the sense you’re thinking of. We did have a pretty bad falling out though…”

Benny was silent for a moment. “Would this guy happen to be Busy?” Alastar was stunned into stillness. He turned a wondering look onto Benny.

“…I really shouldn’t be surprised you even guessed that.”

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Benny asked, unable to stop his smug grin.

Alastar sighed, hands falling into his lap. “Yeah…”

“So what happened to fan the flames again?”

“Halloween.” Benny raised his eyebrows at that. “Well. That’s when it became embers again. It was…”

“Yeeees?” the astronaut nudged, grinning as he leaned forward.

“…It was when he had his little ‘accident’ a couple weeks ago and Lucy and I took him out for his makeover.”

“I gotta agree with you on that one, G, he _does_ look mighty fine in a vest.”

Alastar gave him a grin. “And his reading glasses.”

“_Yes!_” Benny cackled. “Man Upstairs, am I glad I’m not the only one that thinks so! I told Lucy about it and she just gave me this really weirded out look!”

Alastar chuckled softly. “If it makes you feel any better, she remembered what you said about that. It was… quite the effect.”

Benny snickered. “I bet.” His laughter died down after a minute. “…Oh. Right, that’s… still a problem.”

“Mm,” Alastar said by way of agreement.

“Are you going to tell him?”

“No,” Alastar murmured. “No, there wouldn’t be any point to it. And I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship by putting that kind of burden on him. I’ll get over it again, I just need time.”

Benny gave him a skeptical look. “You sure about that, G? I mean I imagine him being a total asshole toward you was a massive help last time.”

“I’m sure, Benny. I appreciate your concern, though.” The spaceman pouted at him and slid down from his perch, drifting closer to wrap his arms around the cop.

“You know B and I just don’t want to see you hurt, right…?”

“I know.” Alastar hugged him back. “But I’ll be okay.”


	25. It's No Good

**Chapter Twenty-Four: It’s No Good**

Another winter storm had slammed the city, burying Bricksburg even deeper than the one that had hit just a week before Christmas. The city had been brought to a grinding halt; it was the first time in decades they’d had to announce a level 3 snow emergency.

Sirius found himself feeling queasy and unable to focus all day. The last time he could remember the weather being this bad, his grandparents had been out in it, caught unaware by the suddenness with which it had hit. The forecast had said it wasn’t supposed to hit for another two days…

He rubbed his eyes and tried to read the document he was going over for the fourth time, when something slammed into the window with a resounding _thump_. He let out a startled yelp as he nearly leapt out of his chair, spinning it around to see what could have possibly collided with the glass. It was too early yet for any birds to return, and his office was too high up for something to be thrown at it…

…Unless it was by one Cary Callaghan, he amended as he took in the snowball sliding down the glass, then glanced down to see a pair of familiar black uniforms. He huffed softly, not sure whether he should be amused or annoyed. Alastar certainly seemed to find it hysterical, the way he was doubled over, and he could just make out a smirk on Cary’s face. He rolled his eyes and made his way down to the lobby to meet up with them. “Was that really necessary?”

“Cary seemed to think so,” Alastar answered, still giggling.

“It’s too quiet out today. I got bored.”

“So you decided to give me a heart attack?”

“We decided,” Cary drawled, “to give you a distraction.”

“I’m already plenty distracted,” Sirius muttered.

“We kind of figured,” Alastar said softly. “All the news and weather stations can’t seem to stop talking about what happened the last time Bricksburg had a storm this bad. So we wanted to check on you, make sure you’re doing alright.”

“So you drove all the way here in that mess? You could have just called, you know.”

“I suggested as much,” Cary said, folding his arms across his chest and giving his brother a very pointed look.

“We both needed to get out of that office, and you know it.”

“Dare I ask?”

“Everyone’s going a little stir crazy from being cooped up,” Alastar explained. “We put the bots out on patrol, figuring that would be safer, but it’s left the rest of us with little to do. We’re already mostly caught up on all the paperwork we’ve been behind on.” Sirius raised his eyebrows at that. “So we decided to start doing short patrols.”

“Man Upstairs help us if this lasts much longer,” Cary grumbled.

“Indeed,” Sirius murmured his agreement.

“Just shoot us a text if you need one of us to come back later,” Alastar offered. “Or just someone to talk to. We should be getting back to our patrol now.” He paused, turning to give Sirius a surprised look as a hand reached out and snagged his sleeve. Cary stopped a couple steps away to tilt his head at them.

“Just… Be careful out there. I don’t know if I… if…”

Alastar gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll be careful.”

~* *~

“Brrr!” Alastar complained as they climbed back into the cruiser. “Goodness, it’s bitter out…” He rubbed his hands together, trying to bring some feeling back into his fingers, and glanced over at his brother. Cary was being an unusual sort of quiet. “Something on your mind?”

Cary finally started the car, and slowly pulled away from the curb. “He’s worried about you.”

Alastar gave his brother a weird look. “And you, too.”

“But mostly _you_.”

Silence reigned for a moment. “…Alright, that’s taking the teasing a little _too_ far.”

“I’m not!” Cary protested. “Teasing, I mean.”

“I don’t appreciate you trying to get my hopes up like that-”

“Alastar, I would _never_-”

“He _can’t_, Cary! You _know_ that!”

“We used to think the same thing about me, remember?” Alastar flinched back at Cary’s tone. Bad Cop wasn’t about to argue the point any further. “And then Benny happened.”

“…But we’ve known him for _ten years_, why would anything change _now?_”

“Halloween night.”

“What?”

“He always kept us at arm’s length before, but you’ve been spending a lot of time with him since. Maybe it’s just like it was with me and Benny, he just needed someone to be persistent and not take his bullshit.”

A grin slowly made its way across Alastar’s face. “Oh, so you’re _admitting_ you’re an asshole?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Alastar laughed. “I’m just saying maybe you shouldn’t give up just yet.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually saying this about _you_, but I think you’re being overly optimistic. But alright.”


	26. Blue Moon

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Blue Moon**

Sirius paused at his office door, steeling himself to deal with the disaster inside. Every year, on this particular day, he had _always_ found his office swarmed with flowers and balloons and those ridiculous heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, all sent from ‘secret admirers’. He had accepted at the start of his career that his celebrity status would warrant a mess of unwanted attention, but really, it was such a waste. And creepy. Really, really creepy.

So when he cautiously pushed his door open to reveal a very _empty_ office, his jaw dropped. On one hand, it meant he wouldn’t be spending the entire day clearing the room out, which was a huge relief. On the other, it was… actually kind of depressing. Well, of course. What else could he expect, when he had finally shown his true colors and tried to _kill_ his adoring fans? They knew what a monster he really was, now. Even if they had practically begged him to come back as President, he was undeserving of their affection, even the shallow sort. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before crossing the room. Might as well get some work done.

As he rounded his desk to sit down, a pop of blue caught his eye, and he stared down at the pair of roses lying on his keyboard- one blue, one black, tied together with a silver ribbon. He sank into his executive chair, trying to puzzle out their presence. What poor sap out there would still want to give _him_ flowers? Even if they were a far cry from the usual…

There was no way he would get any work done until he had this mystery solved. He picked up the roses and wandered back out to Velma’s desk. “This was it today?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who brought them?”

“The florist down the street. The delivery boy didn’t say who they were from.”

“And you didn’t call the shop directly and ask _them?_”

“I did, sir. They said the purchase was made anonymously. The customer paid with cash.”

No paper trail to follow, then. He turned back to the roses. “…Why _black_, though? …That’s not a threat, is it?” And there was only one person in the world that he had actually told his new favorite color to, so far, so surely _that_ was coincidence?

“I don’t know, sir,” Velma answered. Her optics flicked off briefly, indicating she was searching the internet. “My research indicates that black roses can mean farewell, the end of a relationship, or new beginnings and major change, and can be meant to inspire confidence, hope, and courage. Interpretation varies. Also, blue roses symbolize mystery, the impossible, or the unattainable.”

“…Interesting.” He traced the tip of a petal with one finger, taking in the soft, velvety texture. “Would you mind fetching me a vase with some water? I might actually keep these.” After all, they were the first roses he had ever received that weren’t the stock standard red dozen, and the novelty of that was reason enough for him.

“Yes, sir.”

He returned to his office, setting the flowers back on the desk. “’Unattainable’, hm?” Interesting message to send, though he felt better knowing the black rose _wasn’t_ meant to be a threat. With that choice of interpretation, it had to be someone who actually _knew_ him. Even if the colors weren’t meant to be interpreted, there was still only one person who knew the blue rose would be appreciated, and if Alastar was the culprit, it certainly seemed the sort of thing he would do, to try to cheer him up.

But how would he even know Sirius _hadn’t_ been inundated with gifts this year? It wasn’t anywhere near lunch time yet, the Cops wouldn’t have been in his office yet to see. He glanced up as Velma entered his office with the requested vase. “Ah, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

He slid the flowers into the water, then dropped his chin into a hand as he stared at them, stumped. Clearly the gift giver _didn’t_ want him to guess at their identity- no paper trail, no notes, no other gifts to go with the flowers.

Sirius grunted at himself and sat up again. Why did he even care, anyway? He certainly never had before. So what if the colors were different from usual, they were still roses, just like he’d been receiving for years before. It didn’t matter. The whole holiday was stupid, anyway. He jabbed the power button on his desktop, determined to get some work done.

Like clockwork, his door swung open slightly after noon, but it wasn’t just the Cops this time. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when Benny, Emmet, Lucy, and Unikitty followed the two brothers into his office, each bearing a gift of their own. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” Emmet and Unikitty cheered, dropping a small cardboard box onto his desk. He stared down at it.

“What…?”

“We made cupcakes!” the princess chirped, bouncing excitedly. “Go on, open it!” He did. Nestled inside were half a dozen cupcakes, as promised, decorated in pink, yellow, and light blue frosting with tiny candy hearts sprinkled on top. And judging by the scent wafting up at him, they were still warm.

“Ohh, those smell _good_…”

“And I made you this,” Lucy said, handing over an envelope. He pulled out a handmade card, as masterfully crafted as the Christmas party invitations, and flipped it open to see each of his friends had signed it. “It was a tradition in my family,” she explained quietly. “To make cards for each other. I haven’t done it for a long time, but I wanted to see that tradition continue.”

“I love it,” he told her honestly. “Thank you.” He set it down next to the vase. He wheezed as he found himself suddenly trapped in a bone crushing hug. “Yes, thank you Benny, you can let go now,” he gasped, and the spaceman laughed, releasing him before handing over a yellow rose. “Another one?”

“Another one what?” Benny asked, then noticed the vase. “Oh! Huh, odd colors to be giving someone on Valentine’s Day.”

“You know, I thought so too. I have no idea who they’re from, though. What does yellow mean?”

“Friendship!” Sirius smiled, and placed the yellow rose in the vase with the other two.

“Thank you, guys, I love all your gifts.” His smile fell. “I don’t have any for you, though…”

Alastar waved him off. “It’s alright,” he assured. “We weren’t expecting you to, this was all meant to be a surprise anyway.” He smirked. “You won’t be getting off the hook next year, though.”

Sirius laughed. “Oh don’t worry, I won’t forget. I am curious, though, about why…?”

“Valentine’s Day is a day all about love!” Unikitty chirped. “Not just the romantic kind, but love for your friends and family too! So we wanted to show you that we appreciate you being our friend!”

“I don’t really feel like I’ve done anything to deserve it, though.”

“Well if you want reasons, you stopped being an evil jerkface, for one,” Lucy said, smirking as he rolled his eyes.

“_Thanks_, Lucy.”

“And you worked the hardest out of everyone to help bring me back.”

“And you’ve done lots of great things to make the city better!” Emmet added.

“And maybe you’re kind of weird and quirky about it, but you _have_ shown that you care about us!” Unikitty finished.

“Alright, alright,” Sirius huffed at them, trying not to smile again. “You’ve made your point. Thank you.” He endured a few more hugs, then watched as everyone but the Cops filed back out to continue their day. He gave them an expectant look.

“It’s just… _weird_, to come in here and _not_ see the place packed floor to ceiling with red and pink,” Cary muttered. Sirius gave a nonchalant shrug.

“You really expected otherwise, after what I pulled last year?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“We did think there was a chance of it happening,” Alastar said. “So we _might_ have had a bit of a hand in plotting that impromptu party.”

“Not that they even _needed_ any nudging anyway. Emmet and Unikitty were already plotting those cupcakes before Alastar could even finish pitching the idea to them. And Lucy already had a stack of those cards made for everyone else.”

“God, I can’t wait to try one, they really do smell good…” Alastar laughed. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance either of you might have an idea where those other roses came from?”

“I really don’t,” Cary answered with a shrug. Alastar shook his head.

“I’m honestly surprised you kept them, usually everything goes right in the dumpster.”

“Well, they’re _unusual_, I figured that was reason enough.”

“That they are,” Alastar agreed. He stepped closer to the desk, dropping another yellow rose into the vase. Sirius stared as Alastar just gave him a smile.

“Oh. Thank you. If that’s all, I _do_ have a lot of work I need to get back to…”

“Of course,” Cary agreed. “We should too.”

“Enjoy the cupcakes!” Alastar said, and followed his brother out. Sirius dropped back into his chair, staring at the second yellow rose with a strange feeling of disappointment.


	27. Somebody To Love

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Somebody To Love**

_He was alone, trapped inside a decaying old hotel, the only light to see by a dim, eerie green glow._

_And there was something else in there with him._

_He couldn’t remember how he came to be in this place. All he knew was that it didn’t matter which way he turned, the way out was never in sight, bringing to mind the mythological maze that no one could escape from. And the monster was gaining on him._

_From a distance he could just make out a scribbled impression of a face, but as it drew nearer, its features became more defined. A wide grin full of sharp teeth, four glowing green eyes, flared spines with glowing bulbous ends slowly undulating in a mesmerizing fashion…_

_The icy fingers were back, stealing the breath from his lungs, and he stumbled to the floor. Disembodied voices hissed accusations in his ears, and he clapped his hands over them in a futile attempt to block them out. The monster drew nearer, as malicious as ever, gloating without words. It didn’t need to say anything. His guilt was plain for all to see._

_Claws slashed and ripped, shredding clothing, shredding skin, and he was too frozen to even try to defend himself as the beast flayed him alive. He closed his eyes in resignation. It always ended the same way- with him bleeding and broken on the filthy, decaying floor, helpless to stop the creature from delivering the killing blow._

_But the strike never landed. He dared to open his eyes again as the monster screamed its outrage. He just barely registered something- someone?- standing over him in a protective stance, blue-white flames licking at their hands. The figure was as pitch black as the monster, with one obvious (and for some reason, very important) difference- the pair of deep blue eyes that radiated righteous fury. He could only stare in dumbfounded surprise as the figure beat the monster back, and burned it from the inside out. He jolted in recognition-_

-and in a blink it was all gone as he opened his eyes to reality, left with a lot of confusion and a vague sense of _that wasn’t how it actually happened, but it’s better than all the other endings…_ and_ why didn’t I dream of that sooner?_

~* *~

It was something of a surprise to receive the text from Risky, but he agreed to meet the elder Business brother at The Coffee Chain after their shift, sending Alastar home with the assurance that everything was fine, Risky apparently just had some questions he wanted to ask _him_ specifically. So now they sat across from each other in the back booth, and he couldn’t really deny he was enjoying watching Risky squirm nervously under his stare. Good thing Alastar wasn’t with him, he would probably get a swat upside the head for it. “You wanted to talk, so?” He gestured for Risky to spit it out already.

“Right,” Risky coughed, and fidgeted with the cardboard sleeve around his cup. “You seem like a pretty observant guy so I’m sure you’ve already noticed it, but uh. I think your brother has a thing for _my_ brother.”

“I have noticed, yes. It’s not the first time, after all.”

“Not the- First time?? You mean this _isn’t_ something new?”

“_Hardly_,” Cary snorted. “He had a crush on Sirius way back when we first met him, too.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“It didn’t take him long to figure out Sirius was never going to feel the same way about him.” He took a sip of his decaf. “Or so we thought, anyway.”

Risky looked intrigued at that little tidbit, and leaned forward, his fear of Big Scary Bad Cop apparently forgotten. “You’ve seen something, haven’t you?”

“I might have.”

“Ooh, are we plotting something??” They glanced over to the counter to see Skip leaning on it, an eager grin stretched across her face. “What are we plotting? Can I get in on it?” The two men glanced back at each other.

“…I don’t see why not,” Cary finally allowed. One more glance around the shop showed they were the only two customers there. “Get over here already.”

“Yes!” Skip cheered, and bounced over. “Seriously, what are we plotting??”

“How to get a certain pair of idiots to fess up that they’re into each other.”

“Would these idiots happen to be your brothers?” She laughed at the surprised look Risky gave her. “I’ve got eyes, honey. Let me guess- Alastar knows what he’s about, but isn’t saying anything ‘cause he thinks Mister President doesn’t feel the same, meanwhile Sirius could probably use about a few thousand clues.”

Cary threw his head back and laughed. Even Risky couldn’t help but grin at her assessment. “That sounds about right.”

“Which is sad cause Alastar’s such a cutie! He deserves to be happy.”

Risky gave her a considering look. “Hey, I’ll give you five bucks if you do me a favor…”

~* *~

Sirius sighed to himself as he made his way to The Coffee Chain, thoughts wandering as he pulled his coat more tightly around himself to ward off the bitter early March winds. He couldn’t wait for warmer weather to arrive.

He had noticed, over the past several weeks, that he hadn’t seen Alastar alone since the incident with the mirror. He’d seen even less of his friend since Valentine’s Day. He wracked his brain as he tried to think of what he might have done (recently, anyway) to cause his friend to avoid him. Or was it really that he was seeing less of Alastar anymore, and not that he was feeling increasingly clingy of late? There really shouldn’t be any reason for that, he scolded himself. He felt like he was finally starting to work through all of his Halloween-related problems. The nightmares still bothered him, but only on occasion, and he no longer woke in a cold sweat, ready to claw through his skin to rid himself of the _thing_ that crawled just beneath it. And he had worked past his discomfort with Keelan- the sight of the youngest Callaghan didn’t send him into fight or flight mode anymore, barely even raising the slightest anxiety.

There was a new barista at The Coffee Chain, a young blonde who he assumed had just started within the last few days as he hadn’t seen her the week before. Skip was training her, covering for Larry who was apparently out sick for the day. Or at least she was supposed to be; their group were the only ones in the shop for the time being, so she was at the other end of the counter bantering with Alastar while- he checked her name tag- Brenda was pouring his coffee. Their flirting was fairly common, and in good fun rather than serious (he was reasonably certain that Skip wasn’t into guys, at least).

So it was quite a shock when Skip leaned over the counter to peck Alastar on the lips. Alastar certainly looked very surprised at her bold move. “Skip??”

“Your coffee, Mister- umm…”

“’Sir’ is fine,” Sirius murmured, accepting his coffee.

“Sirius?” Risky nudged him, giving him a concerned look.

“I’m sorry, I just remembered I have some paperwork I really shouldn’t put off. I’ll see you later.” He didn’t even wait for a response before making his way out the door.

“Wait, where’s he going?” Benny asked, surprised at the suddenness with which he took off.

Skip turned to Risky. “Alright buster, where’s my five bucks?”

“Wait, _what??_” Alastar said, looking between the two of them.

Risky raised an eyebrow at him as he handed over a five-dollar bill. “I was getting sick of watching you two dance around each other.”

“You’re welcome,” Skip said smugly. “Now go get your man, honey.” She laughed when the door bell jingled barely two seconds later.

“Aww man, you guys were plotting _without_ me?” Benny pouted.

“Wait. Sirius and Alastar like each other??” Emmet seemed floored by this revelation. Lucy giggled and kissed his cheek.

“It’s about time somebody did something to give them a kick in the rear end. Those two, honestly,” Unikitty huffed.

“Am I seriously the only one who _didn’t_ know this?” Emmet pouted.

“To be fair, Alastar’s always been a very good liar,” Cary pointed out. “And Sir’s probably just now realizing his feelings himself.”

“Oh.” Emmet frowned. “I hope he’s okay.”

“I’m sure everything will turn out fine.”


	28. In Your Eyes

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: In Your Eyes**

Sirius could move quickly, when he wanted. There was no sign of him anywhere as Alastar exited the coffee shop. No matter; he would just head to the Tower. Sirius _had_ muttered something about paperwork, and it wasn’t too farfetched an idea that he would head back to his office to bury himself in it.

Only, when he arrived, the bots denied having seen their boss since he had left for coffee. He checked Sirius’ office anyway, just in case the President had managed to give them the slip. It was empty. Stumped, he checked the penthouse next, but Edwin also claimed to have not seen his creator. A text to Risky revealed he had not yet given his brother a key to his flat (he’d been meaning to, it just kept slipping his mind). He returned home, on the off chance he had chosen to hide in Benny’s apartment. It wasn’t likely he still had a key, but he figured it was worth a shot. Not there either.

Well. Having run out of places Sirius was likely to be, it was time to get creative.

He returned to the precinct, hunting down his and Cary’s team of police bots. They were still there, awaiting their assignments for the day.

(They really needed to work on teaching the bots to start taking some initiative…)

“Alright boys, I have a job for you,” he said once he had their attention. “President Business has gotten himself lost somewhere in the city, and I need your help to find him. I believe he might be in a rather precarious frame of mind, so if you see him, don’t approach him- just radio me and let me know where he is.”

“Yes sir!” the bots confirmed, and set out once Alastar assigned them each a section of the city to search. He sighed, and turned to see Cary leaning against the wall, sunglasses perched on top of his head so he could give his brother a Look.

“Oh. Has it really been that long already?”

“It’s been a bit,” Cary teased, giving him a smirk. “I almost sent them out on patrol, but you felt like you needed some help.”

“…You don’t seem at all surprised by what Skip did. Did you have something to do with this?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh, you _ass_. …Thank you.” Cary laughed.

“Get going already, would you? And good luck.”

It was perhaps an hour later when his radio crackled to life and Ace reported having seen the President sitting in the park. The bot gave Alastar Sirius’ precise location, after which Alastar told them to report back to the station- no doubt Cary had work lined up for them already. He heaved a sigh of relief and made his way to the park. He followed the path Ace had told him to take, and sure enough there Sirius was, sitting on a bench, unfocused gaze on the ground. And he obviously hadn’t moved for a while, as he still held his cup from the coffee shop. That was honestly unexpected; the weather was warming up, but only a touch. It was still pretty nippy out.

Sirius glanced up at the crunch of gravel, and sighed when he saw the cop. “How long have you been looking for me?”

“Since you took off.” Alastar sat down beside him. “I got really worried when I couldn’t even find you at Benny’s.”

Sirius gave him an odd look at that. “Why would you look for me at _Benny’s?_”

“I was running out of options, and it seemed as likely a place as any.” They sat in silence for a while. “…Why _did_ you take off like that?”

Sirius' gaze fell back to the ground, and he fiddled with his empty coffee cup as he tried to put his jumbled thoughts and emotions into words. “Because watching Skip kiss you felt like a punch in the gut.”

Alastar was surprised at that. “Oh.”

“I _had_ meant to return to my office, at first. My intention was mostly just to step outside and get some air, but as I was walking, I tried to figure out why I reacted that way, and it just… all fell on me at once, like a ton of bricks. So I came out here to think, figuring this was an unlikely enough spot that it would take a while for anyone to find me.”

“Well you were right about that,” Alastar murmured. “What’s your conclusion?”

Sirius still wouldn’t look at him. “…That I am a very selfish person that’s always wanting what I can’t and _shouldn’t_ have.”

Alastar laced his fingers together, thoughtfully silent. “You asked me if I might have any idea who gave you the mystery roses,” he finally said after a while. “I must admit, I lied to you. I don’t just have an idea, I _know_.”

“…It was you, wasn’t it?”

Alastar nodded. “It was me,” he admitted. “It was… part of my process of trying to get over you. It was a stupid impulse decision, something we both probably would have been better off for if I hadn’t done it, but once I had the idea, it wouldn’t let me go.” Sirius finally turned to him, listening. “Black roses mean the end of a relationship. Or at least in that case, the beginning of the end of the feelings I had for you. It’s also part of why I haven’t let myself be alone with you since the mirror incident. I… I liked what I saw a little _too_ well, and that was when I knew that, for my own sake if nothing else, it was time to start backing off.”

Sirius felt his heart sink further and further, the longer Alastar spoke. “Oh.” He chuckled bitterly. “Of course. Just when I realize I might actually feel something for you, you’re over me.” Alastar gave him an alarmed look when he started to laugh helplessly. “That would be my luck.” His laughter turned into shuddery breaths as he tried to stave off sobs, and he wound his fingers through his hair. “F-_fuck_. I’m such an idiot…”

He startled when arms wrapped around him and pulled him close to a warm body. “Obviously you missed the part when I said I’ve been _trying_ to get over you. I never said it _worked_.”

“But… the black rose…?”

“Was more to convince myself than anything. I’m afraid I’m still rather hopelessly in love with you.”

Sirius chewed his lip for a moment, then wrapped his arms around Alastar in return, soaking in his warmth. He hadn’t realized just how cold he really was, after sitting outside for so long. “I hope you know, you’re a real jerk. I’ve _missed_ my best friend these past few weeks.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m a bit of an idiot, too.”

“Only a bit?” Sirius scoffed. Alastar started to grin.

“Alright, maybe more than just a bit. How can I make it up to you?”

Sirius gave him a considering look, then grabbed his jacket collar and pulled him close to press their lips together. Alastar made a sound of amusement, quick to take the lead and coach him through example on how to kiss properly. He tried to fight down a grin when they broke apart, but judging by the look Sirius was giving him, he wasn’t entirely successful at it. He cleared his throat. “So… I know this is really bad timing, and I really hate having to say this… But I need to get back to work, and you probably should too.” Sirius huffed at him and rolled his eyes.

“Spoilsport.”

Alastar smiled. “But I definitely want to continue this later, so your place or mine?”

“_Mine_,” Sirius all but growled, and pulled him in for another kiss.


	29. Side By Side

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Side By Side**

Six o’clock rolled around all too soon and not soon enough, at the same time. He’d done a surprisingly good job of _not thinking about it_ all afternoon, and was able to actually get a full day’s worth of work finished. But the moment Alastar showed up in his office, he wasted no time in dragging the cop into the elevator and hitting the button for the top floor.

Alastar snickered as they stumbled back out of the elevator and Sirius pressed him against the wall to steal a kiss. He was certain he had the goofiest of grins on his face, and even Sir’s mood had drastically improved from what it had been that morning. “Are you laughing at me?” Sirius mock grumbled at him.

“Not at all,” Alastar answered, still smiling. “I’m just very happy right now.” Sirius rolled his eyes and pushed him down onto the couch. Alastar went down laughing, and grabbed his arm, dragging him down on top of him.

“Oof! Take it easy!” The cop only hummed happily in response and nuzzled his neck. “Are you always this cuddly?”

“Mhmm.” Alastar seemed content just to hold him, so Sirius relaxed. It reminded him of another morning, not too long ago, but now he could freely indulge himself. “You seem pretty calm about this.”

“I think I’m still waiting for it to sink in,” Sirius admitted, closing his eyes as Alastar raked his fingers through his curls. It felt nice. “Or for me to wake up. Or for you to come to your senses, you can take your pick.” He pushed himself up to look at the cop. “Why _did_ Skip kiss you, anyway? I thought she likes girls?”

“Jealous, are we?” Sirius sulked at him, and he chuckled. “That right there is exactly why.”

“…What?”

“She and our brothers were being sneaky.”

“Wh- you mean they _set us up?!_” Alastar let his head fall back against the couch cushion as he laughed. “Those conniving- underhanded little-” He was cut off with another kiss. “…Remind me to send them a ‘thank you’ gift, or something.”

“Certainly.” Sirius sighed, and scooted down in Alastar’s hold until he could rest his head on the cop’s chest. “Comfy?”

“Mm.” He closed his eyes as Alastar rubbed his back, then stiffened when his fingers found the scar stretching across his shoulder blades. “Don’t… don’t touch that…”

“As you wish.” They laid in silence for a while. It was a few minutes before Alastar noticed the fine tremors going through Sirius. “Hey, are you alright?”

Sirius drew in a shaky breath. “I think it’s finally hitting me,” he said, and Alastar stilled. “It’s just. This is _real_. Right? I’m not just dreaming this? I’m actually…”

“Yeah.” Alastar held him tightly. “Yeah, this is real.”

“I’m not _broken_ anymore…” It was spoken so quietly, but it still stunned Alastar into utter stillness. It took him a minute to find his voice. God, it was like Cary all over again…

“Where in the world did you ever get the idea that you’re _broken?_”

“Remember how I told you that no one ever really ‘clicked’?”

“Yes…?”

“They were very vocal about their displeasure at being turned down. You can only hear ‘there must be something wrong with you’ so many times from so many people before you realize it’s _true_. Even Father was getting disgusted with my inability to just _pick someone_ and settle down.”

“Oh, Sirius,” Alastar sighed, and raked his fingers through his hair. Sirius seemed to calm somewhat at that. “Just because you don’t want to jump into bed with every pretty thing that bats their lashes at you, that doesn’t mean you’re _broken_. Some people require more of a connection than just ‘they’re attractive and I get along with them’ before they can start to feel anything of a more romantic nature for someone. It’s no coincidence that Cary fell for Benny _after_ they’d become such good friends. And I think it’s the same with you; you’ve just not had the opportunity _to_ get close to anyone before.”

Sirius chewed his lip as he mulled that over. “But we were friends _before_ the whole thing with the Master Builders,” he pointed out. “If that’s true, why didn’t I feel anything for you _then?_”

“I’m far from an expert on the matter, but I’d say it was because you weren’t quite in the right frame of mind to be as receptive to it, back then. You had a lot on your plate, trying to run Octan and Bricksburg _and_ figuring out how to deal with the Master Builders. Plus, as much as we did consider you a friend, you had a habit of keeping everyone at arms’ length, even us.” Alastar smirked. “And you had that _almighty need_ to find the Kragle. I think you spent every moment you could spare plotting that expedition.”

Sirius snorted. “_Jerk_.”

“You’re just mad cause it’s the truth.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’ve been an idiot for a really long time, haven’t I?”

“Kind of. But everything worked out for the better in the end. And maybe it took a little longer than either of us would have liked, but we’re still _here_.”

Sirius smiled. “Yeah.” He pushed himself up and pressed a grateful kiss to Alastar’s lips. “You’re a saint for putting up with me for so long.”

“Somebody had to look out for you.”

“And I’m glad it was you.” Alastar smiled at him.

“What do you say we order some takeout and see if there’s anything good on tv?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Sirius scooted off of him, letting him sit up. They debated what to get for a few minutes, and wound up settling on pizza. Alastar went down to the lobby to pick it up.

Sirius sank into the cushions with a sigh, still feeling overwhelmed. He felt… whole, for the first time in he couldn’t even remember how long. Probably even for the first time in his entire life. That ‘hole’ Unikitty saw in him had slowly been filling in over the past several months, he realized, like all the missing pieces in his jumbled mess of a life were sliding into place. He wasn’t so naïve to think that finally finding love was the sole reason for his recovery- it was his friends all pulling together to include him in their Christmas celebration and reunite him with the last family he had left. It was Lucy helping him to find a reflection he could actually live with. It was Alastar’s remarkable patience, supporting him every time he stumbled and refusing to put up with his nonsense. And maybe he still had a long road ahead of him, but now he knew he didn’t have to face it alone.

He was going to be okay after all.


	30. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Crash**

Lucy woke, and found herself alone in bed. That in itself wasn’t so unusual; Emmet tended to be an early riser. What was unusual was that he hadn’t made up his side of the bed, instead leaving the covers where he’d shoved them back. Curious, she made her way out of the bedroom in search of her boyfriend, and found him sitting at the table, a mug of coffee in his hands as he stared listlessly. He looked exhausted. “Babe?”

He blinked and turned toward her. “Oh… Good morning.”

Now she was really worried. “Emmet, are you alright?”

“I had a bad dream… Well, a really weird one, at least,” he murmured. Lucy poured herself a mug and sat beside him.

“About what happened Halloween night?”

“No, actually…” He released his mug to rub at his eyes. “We were here, in Bricksburg, and there were all these discs with lights in the sky, and it got dark, and Bricksburg was falling apart… Not just here either, but all the other realms too, like… Like the world was being destroyed… And everything was gray, except this one person who looked a lot like the Ringmaster but was all sorts of colors, and really random pops of green or blue. I don’t know why but it felt important somehow, but not in a _good_ way…”

Lucy reached over, slipping her hand into his. “That is a weird dream,” she agreed, “and a little scary… But it was _just_ a dream, right?”

“Yeah…” He didn’t sound convinced.

“Emmet, look at me…” He did. She brought his hand up to her lips to press a kiss to his knuckles. “It’s _just a dream_. A weird and frightening one, so I can understand why you’re shaken by it, but _only_ a dream. Everything’s going to be just fine. And even if anything _did_ happen, we’re all more than capable of handling it. There won’t be any world ending on _our_ watch. We’ve got a good team, you know?” Emmet finally smiled at that.

“Yeah… We do.” He squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Lucy.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Any time, babe.”


End file.
